Totally Spies
by TweedleDitz
Summary: Mikan is the top agent in the world of spies. Undercover as a student at Alice Academy a new kid arrives in her class, Natsume. He is yet another undercover agent and her competition. He hits on Mikan but she refuses to fall for his chauvinist personality
1. Crossing Paths with a Black Cat

**I don't own Gakuen Alice…oh but if I did (: BTW all weapons are fake and don't exist. They all wear school uniforms.**

_**Ages:**_

_**Natsume: 18  
Mikan: 17  
Hotaru: 17  
Ruka: 18  
Tsubasa: 21  
Misaki: 20  
Aoi: 16  
Youichi: 16  
Sakurano, Subaru, and Tono: 23  
Reo: 25  
Sumire, Mochiage: 18  
Tobita (Inchou): 18  
Kokoro, Luna, Anna, Nonoko, Kitsuneme, Usami: 17**_

* * *

"_Mikan, you have to stay in school, but you'll be transferred to Alice Academy. Act like a student, there's a huge conspiracy."_

"_We don't know who, so stay on guard."_

"_We know you're only ten, so we're sending another girl with you, her name is Hotaru."_

"_We'll need you while you're at school so prepare to leave unnoticed."_

"_This is a mission Mikan!"_

"_Mikan! MIKAN!"_

…

"Mikan…!"

"H-Huh…?" I opened my eyes slowly, to try and assess my surroundings. My head was in my arms, and my arms were on the desk, crossed to make a sort of pillow for my head. I turned my head around so I could look up, following the voice that called my name. My eyes flew open and I sat straight up. "S-Sorry I accidentally fell asleep again ha-ha!" I said uneasily.

Mr. Makihara was giving me a disappointed and irritated expression. He had an open book in his hand; must have been reading out loud and walking around at the same time. "Let's hope you were dreaming about your next exam, which by the way is in TWO DAYS." He scolded, and then walked away, continuing his reading and lecturing.

I began feeling mad at my teacher, and propped one elbow on the desk, putting my cheek into the palm of my hand with a frustrated expression.

_Seven years I've been enduring school for this damn mission._

_Seven years I've endured peacefully, until I crossed paths with a black cat._

*****THE NEXT DAY*****

_**(At Headquarters)**_

"So Hotaru, have you tried out the new Desert Hawks? I hear they've upgraded it and now they're calling it Ultimates or something like that."

BANG! Hotaru shot her Thaus119 machine gun at the long range target before her, having invented it herself. She reloaded. "I don't care for pistols, they are a nuisance." She shot another round.

I was sitting on a nearby table, watching from a safe distance, not like I needed to. I've been trained to dodge them, nothing new. It was a high table that extra guns were placed on so that the user could switch and practice with different types. Since it was high up, I was swinging my legs underneath while eating an apple. I always trained with Hotaru, she always gave me a competitive spirit, and made me determined to surpass her.

"Come on they're like cell phones compared to that corded house phone you're using." I took another bite of my apple.

She threw her rifle on the ground, eyes still fixed on the target mannequin. "They're both equally usable. Hand me my Heifen23." I looked at the pile of guns next to me and picked it up, throwing it to Hotaru, who then caught it without looking away from her target, and immediately began shooting again. "Damn mannequin! Stop moving!" She blasted aimless shots at it.

"Hey look! You're hitting it!" I cheered her on.

"I don't give shit about that I'm just not hitting that fucking bullseye!" I could practically sense flames in her eyes. She finally stopped shooting, out of breath, and dropped her gun. She sat down in her chair and drank her water.

"Geez Hotaru, don't give up so easily." I finished my apple and threw away the core as if I was shooting a basket. I jumped off the table and grabbed my Ultimate from the table and single-handedly fired one single shot at the mannequin. Hotaru was watching intently of course. The mannequin stopped moving around and she stood up, giving me a dirty look.

Bullseye. With one hand might I add.

I smiled proudly at my accomplishment. "Go pistols!" I cheered, I think I just won the argument. I felt Hotaru walk past me and quickly pick up all of her guns, I could feel an angered aura emitting from her the entire time. She turned the lights off.

"W-What are you doing?" I screamed. "It's dark now!"

She had her back facing me, standing at the only light source. They were the lights from the hallway and she stood at the doorway. "Hurry up we'll be late for scool." And with that, she left the room and closed the door behind her.

"HOTARU!" I screamed back and ran after her.

…

"Let's see, to find X I just need to…yeah! That's it!" I was sitting at my desk, finishing up late homework. I quickly scribbled my work and answer with a pencil.

"Hey, Mikan, how'd you get _that_ as your answer?"

I looked up to see a smiling Ruka looking down at me. "Well, I took these letter variables and-"

"Mikan, those aren't letter variables." He said sincerely.

"What are you talking about? This is an l and this is an o! Then I just have to" I explained to him.

"U-Um, actually that l is a one and that o is a zero." He corrected me.

"YOU'RE KIDDING!" I screamed. At this rate I'm going to fail the semester!

"I-It's alright Mikan I'm sure you'll get it soon!" Anna and Nonoko came over to cheer me up.

"Shut up Mikan, you're being an annoying crybaby." Hotaru said harshly and I turned to see her bored face eating some crab cakes she must have stored in her bag.

"Hotaru…" I felt so abandoned.

Just then Mr. Narumi walked into the classroom to start school. He had blonde hair and a pretty feminine yet manly look to him which I always found strange. He was our history teacher and one of my trainers in the agency. He's like the bridge between my school world and my professional world of spying with the agency, so he's the only adult here who knows about me and Hotaru's double life. Well, the only one as far as I know. There's also Tobita, the class president, so we like to call him Inchou. In the underground network he is our information specialist so he's pretty much the student bridge between the spy world and my school world. He can pull strings if anyone gets suspicious about us, being the class president.

"Please have a seat everyone, class is about to begin." He swiftly walked up to his stand and faced the rest of the class, who were getting seated quickly. He had this…_presence_ that automatically befriended everyone around him so they felt at ease with him. He turned his back to the class to write the schedule for today on the board.

There were a few girls who came in late. They tried to open and close the door quietly then rush to their seats without being noticed. Even though I'm a secret agent, I would have still noticed. Narumi is also a secret agent, so of course he noticed. However, he's such a nice guy he would let it slide. That's one thing I always loved about Narumi, he's one of the kindest people I've ever come across.

I heard them begin to whisper among themselves. I was trained to improve my sense of hearing so that it exceeded its limit, so naturally I listened in.

"Oh my gosh you saw him too?"

"Who _wouldn't_? He's absolutely gorgeous!"

"I think he's the new kid! I hope he transferred into our class!"

"I call dibs I saw him first!"

"Let's be serious, if he's going after someone it'll definitely be Luna!"

"Well her friend Usami is just as pretty."

"I hope he asks me out!"

I stopped listening after that and sighed. They came in late because they were watching some new guy? How pathetic. It'll cause trouble on their friendship if he chooses one over the other; jealousy will ensue then lying, then backstabbing, and finally a breakup between them. This is why I've never dealt with liking a boy during my time here; it'd be such a waste. I can see the future now, they'll fight over him and ruin their bond so that they can become someone's wifey. No guy is worth that.

Narumi turned back around, pretending he didn't notice the late girls, and called for everyone's attention. Finally, he shut those girls up. "There were rumors about this, but those rumors have turned into facts. We have a new student today. You can come in now!"

Great, those girls began talking again. I turned my head to look at Luna and Usami to see their reactions. I can't like this drama, but I can know about it, right? Ah who gives a hell, this'll be interesting. They both had this smug look on their face, which told me that they though it was set fate this new kid would fall for one of them, if not both.

And so, he stepped into the room.

_That cat._

_That fucking black cat._

The entire classroom began murmuring and whispering to each other about him. However much he affected everyone else in the room, he seemed to have affected Ruka the most. His eyes grew huge and he leaned forward a little, to get a better look at him. They went from disbelief to happiness and I could barely see them glitter. Don't tell me he's in love with this new guy…

I looked back up in the front to get a better look at him. One glance at him and it felt like my breath had just been stolen from me. Now I could understand why he had all those other girls so wound up on him. He was _handsome._ Beyond gorgeous, as they had said. He had mysterious black hair that complimented his crimson eyes. Even though he was wearing some loose clothes you could tell he had a rather muscular physique with perfect facial features to match. One thing I couldn't understand though, was his expression. It looked nonchalant, bored, annoyed. It wasn't a blank face, oh definitely not. I could tell by his eyes he wasn't really looking at anyone in particular, rather his eyes kept moving from left to right then back again like he was scanning the room. An amateur's trick to avoiding eye contact with anyone. He was a perfect Adonis, a gift from God to our little academy (which is actually big), and yet…

He pissed me off.

I admit he threw me off for a second but that was it, just _one second._ Just the unonchalantness in his face let me assess his personality. Sarcastic, irritable, a player, a bad listener, careless, reckless, untrustworthy, and absolutely unreliable for even the smallest task. The complete opposite of Ruka Nogi, so why did it seem he had an interest in this kid? Maybe the saying that opposites attract is true. Honestly, I could see parts of Hotaru in him, but she was _definitely_ at a more acceptable level than this punk.

"Everyone, this is Natsume Hyuuga!"

Natsume Hyuuga? Sounds like the name of a person just like the one I described. Perfect. However other girls thought it was absolutely adorable and felt some need to gawk themselves at him.

"He's new to this school so ladies, make sure to be _extremely_ nice to him!"

The girls began squealing or something in their desks. I could've sworn I saw him flash an irritated, actually pissed off, look towards Narumi, trying to mentally kill him or something. Well I guess I would have too, if I was just dangled in front of the opposite sex like bait. I could tell they weren't going to get along.

"Let's see, since you're new to this school entirely, you should have a partner to show you around! Who should it be? How about…"

Seriously Narumi? Now you're just messing with all these girls. If you don't stop you're going to kill them with love and heartache. I hope you read my mind Narumi! Now they were screaming and stuff saying things like _pick me! I'll take extra good care of him!_ Honestly I couldn't care less who became Hyuuga's partner as long as it's not…

"Mikan Sakura!"

…ME?

"Narumi…I'll kill you…!" I messaged him through clenched teeth.

Everyone in the room was sighing in defeat and disappointment and saying things like _aw why her? _Or something like that. Selfish brats. You can have him anytime you want!

"Oh wonderful! There's an open desk right behind her! Feel free to take a seat there!" He gave Natsume a little shove forward, which annoyed him I'm sure.

I turned my head around and sure enough, there was an empty desk behind me. I swear my heart fell down into my stomach, who knows what kind of drama this would get me into! Jealous girls giving me dangerous glares all through class just because I'm stuck sitting so close to him, what a lovely way to spend my every waking day. I turned back around to see him carelessly walking towards my desk, not even bothering to glance at anything else around him. All pairs of eyes were fixed onto him including mine as he practically glided over behind me and finally took his seat. He had his eyes closed as he slouched back into his chair, like he was sleeping or something. What was up with that? I'll tell you what's up he's proving my observation skills to be one hundred and ten percent awesome! The personality I described is fitting in with him much better than I had imagined.

Narumi clapped his hands. "Now that that's over, time to resume my lecture on the myths of ancient civilizations! So as I was saying yesterday…" He turned around to begin writing on the board.

I, too turned back around in my seat and opened my notebook, ready for the lesson. Hopefully by focusing more on school I'll be able to forget his presence that practically lingered behind me. Midterms are tomorrow and I have to be ready for them. Midterms huh? It's the middle of the first semester, not a very popular time for someone to be transferring. Lucky him he doesn't have to take them tomorrow. I wonder what he'll do while we take our tests; probably skip school entirely. Well, we had finals at the end of this semester, then another midterm next semester then one more set of finals for the end of next semester.

Crap! I'm losing my train of thought! Focus…let's see the Greeks believed there were three brothers Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon who each chose-

"Oi."

What.

Annoyed at the interruption, or rather foil of my evil plan to ignore him and pay attention, I reluctantly turned around halfway, practically showing only half my face and moving my pupils as far to the corners of my eyes that they could go.

"What?" I asked rather nonchalantly, hiding my emotions. I decided, I don't really know him, so I'll give him a chance.

"I need paper." He said rather blandly.

I sighed, well if that was it might as well. I turned back to my notebook and ripped out a piece of paper; thank you perforation! So I quickly put the paper over my shoulder and waited for him to grab it and once he did I faced forward completely again to resume my studying. Okay, so the Trojan Horse hid soldiers that snuck into…

"Oi."

WHAT.

Once again interrupted, I reluctantly turned around again in the same fashion as before, only I had to try harder not to show my annoyance. However it didn't make sense, I don't even know this kid and for some reason I have this unfathomable hatred of him. Is it like love at first sight but the opposite? Yeah that's it! If such a thing exists.

"What?" I asked again.

"I need a pen." He said rather blandly.

I sighed, well if he only needed another thing to borrow it couldn't hurt. I have plenty of…pencils actually. I turned back and searched through my bag. Honestly why hadn't he come prepared? The only thing he did right was wear his uniform. Don't get riled up, it's his first day you made the same mistake. That's true, but I'm a top secret agent; there's a difference. I put the pencil over my shoulder without looking back at him and waited for him to take it.

"Sorry, all I have are pencils." I said rather blandly.

Without speaking another word to me he took the pencil. I heard him place it on his desk, but I couldn't hear him writing with it. Was he planning on taking any notes at all? Well I can't turn around to make sure because he'd get all suspicious about me looking at him and-wait! This is none of my business! Besides, I can feel an aura of jealousy mixed in with fierce determination of some sort coming from the girls that were directed at me like bullets. It's like they were trying to declare war or something; trying to make it a competition on who would get his heart. Well it's not much of a competition if I'm willing to practically give it to you-wait! Going off track again shit!

Damn Hyuuga.

…

At the end of the period, I grabbed my bag and waited for Hotaru to finish packing hers. From that point on I vowed to completely ignore Natsume and only talk to him when he speaks to me for school related reasons. No way I'm allowing myself to get sucked into that hot mess! I looked over my shoulder real quick to ask Ruka if he got the homework and I only caught a glimpse of him leaving the room with someone. My eyes narrowed, that someone had black hair. No! It couldn't possibly be _him._ There's just no way they're completely opposite! Okay nevermind, it's none of my business. Just ignore them.

A sudden buzz in my skirt pocket grabbed my attention and I quickly shuffled through the depths of my pocket for my phone. I took it out of my pocket and flipped it open. A new text message; from…Jinno?

_Mikan, you and Hotaru to Headquarters now. We have something waiting for you. –Jinno_

Something waiting for us? Sounds like a nice surprise! I'm excited! I shut my phone and rushed over to Hotaru and whispered the text message in her ear. In response she nodded her head and lead me out of the room as I followed.

…

Getting out of the school was always easy for us. Narumi and Inchou pulled strings together and always had escorts pick us up and take us to HQ. We always made sure that none of our classmates actually saw these escorts. They always waited for us in a student restricted parking lot and we would just walk out and meet them there. Usually parents would have to walk into the front office to greet the students they needed to pick up but we were given…privileges I suppose you could call them.

"Jinno! Jinno! We're here!" I called out to him as Hotaru and I walked into headquarters.

"In here!" We heard his faint voice direct us and we instinctly followed it.

Hotaru and I easily navigated around, being here for so long this place was practically our home. This place was busy as usual, with the scientists running around with their chemicals trying to reach deadlines and the information specialists were constantly rummaging to their offices with phones to their ears.

Our agency comes from a secret branch of the military; namely an intelligence branch. The agency's main goal is to illegitimately 'preserve peace' I suppose you could say. We indirectly control the government. How? We decide which political officials live and which don't. Our missions include: gathering information to see if the official is worth living or not, protect those we want to continue living, and do our best to stop wars. So there! That's a little description of my agency!

We finally reached the room that Jinno was in.

"Hey I got your message, so what's waiting for us?" I asked eagerly as I opened the door.

I should be dead, right? Exactly, I have no idea why I'm still alive because as soon as that door flew open my heart stopped…again. THIS was certainly a…surprise. Still lost on how to react, that stupid eager smile was still plastered onto my face. I looked right at them, sitting around a table, sipping coffee like they don't have a care in the world.

"Oh my." Hotaru finally showed up behind me and covered her mouth with her hand in a fake dramatic fashion.

I blinked once. Twice. Until I was finally able to move my mouth and wipe off that ridiculous smile. "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?" I screamed.

I ran over to _him_ and pointed to _him_ aggressively. "WHAT IS _HE_ DOING _HERE_? JINNO! WHAT'S THE MEANING OF THIS? WHO LET HIM IN? DID HE FIND US OUT?"

Suddenly, I felt a breeze in that…_area_. I looked down to see that he had swiftly lifted up my skirt and my underwear was on show for eve!ryone in the room to see…FUCK.

"You're giving me a headache…Polka Dots." Natsume said in a chauvinistic manner, taking a sip of his coffee so casually.

Polka…DOTS?

I looked down at my underwear to see, oh what do you know POLKA DOTS!

"NATSUME!" You bet I was about to lash out all of my years of training out on this kid! "Ugh, Hotaru let me go!" She had locked my arms behind me, holding me back from kicking his ass. What kind of perverted guy does that in front of an entire room of my peers? Oh, yeah, NATSUNME'S KIND. "Come on I gottta punish him! Wipe that smirk off his fucking face!"

"Punish me? Aw don't sound so kinky." He teased.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" I was practically growling at him.

"Mikan, I think you should stop."

We all stopped struggling with each other and turned our heads to the voice.

"Ruka? What are you doing here?" I exclaimed, then turned back to Jinno. "What the hell is going on here? This is a secret organization why are _they_ here?"

Hotaru punched my head and sent me to the ground, telling me to shut up. "Ow…" I moaned, I felt abandoned again.

"Ahem, that's quite enough." Jinno said after clearing his throat in possibly the loudest way possible. "Mikan, Hotaru, if you'll have a seat I'll explain everything to you."

Reluctantly I obeyed, having no other choice since Jinno was my superior. However, I attempted to sit as far away as possible from Natsume but Hotaru took the only other open seat so I ended up having to sit in between Hotaru and Natsume and Ruka was sitting next to Natsume. I wasn't sure if this was on purpose or not but Jinno sort of took a dramatic pause before he cleared his throat one last time and finally began explaining things.

"Mikan, Hotaru, this is Natsume Hyuuga, our newest addition to the team. He's a year older than you and far more experienced so you would find it wise to listen to him. And of course, you know your classmate Ruka Nogi, and he is Natsume's age as well." Jinno had no need to introduce us we already knew each other, although it was curious information to find out they were both older than us. Strange.

"That is all."

"What? That's it? You made it seem like some grand novel that you were going to tell us! And also, what is _he_ doing here?" I pointed to Ruka. "We've known you since we came to Alice Academy! Are you…like us?"

Ruka smiled kindly like he always did. "Yeah, I'm a spy too. Surprise!"

Yes, surprise indeed.

"Ruka Nogi has been working the Academy case since he was seven, unlike you two who started when you were ten. I'm sorry we never told you that your classmate was one of us." Jinno apologized.

"If you don't mind me asking, why didn't you tell us?" Hotaru asked.

"Because I wanted to see how interesting things would get! I have to say though I was hoping the reaction to be more…dramatic." Narumi stated, suddenly popping into the room.

"But why-" I began.

"Silence! Now is not the time for questions." Jinno shut me up immediately. "We have an urgent mission for you. We've just got a report that someone plans to assassinate our First President. Here's the disposition. Natsume and Mikan, you two are partners. You two will be out in the fundraiser walking around and mingling. Pretend to fit in but keep your eye out for any suspicious activity or for the First President."

PARTNERS? Even in the spy world where I was hoping to get away from him we're still, partners! This is absolutely unbelievable!

"Ruka and Hotaru, you two will be partners. You're mission is to back them up with information before the fundraiser party starts. You two will also be out on the floor, mingle and such. Except, keep your eyes on Mikan and Natsume and make sure no one figures you guys out. That is all." Jinno continued.

"Are we staying the night there?" I asked professionally.

"Yes, the party is in Central and we've reserved two rooms for you!" Narumi stated. Suspiciously he sounded abnormally eager or excited.

"Great! What kind of rooms?" I shouted. I loved hotel rooms. Room service, maid service, perfect bedding and bathrooms and TVs and such. It's all so wonderful! And complimentary breakfasts too! At least, those are the kinds of rooms the agency always assigned me whenever I had to go out of our little city and travel somewhere else. Even if I was alone they were always gave me the presidential suite or a penthouse. Completely unnecessary.

"Single bedrooms!" He shouted excitedly.

"…."

"…"

"…"

"Woah woah woah! What happened to giving us like, _big_ rooms?" I shouted.

Narumi smiled uneasily. "Well…you see…we already spent thousands of dollars on your outfits and transportation and donating to the fundraiser, and all the other rooms are taken by _actual_ residents and tourists."

"Why don't you just pull some strings or pay them to leave their rooms." Hotaru stated casually. She always was a greedy glutton.

Narumi laughed. "Think about it! Two rooms with _one bed_ each! We're a newly formed squad, we need to get to know each other better!"

"Geez, that's pretty cruel and mischievous." Ruka commented.

Besides the mishaps about the rooms, I was pumped up for this mission so I let it go. We get to go to a fancy party! Maybe I'll get to meet my prince charming there…and then we'll dance in the center of the ballroom! Wow I need to get me some glass slippers! And the food most be absolutely incredible! I bet the dress they got me is just as beautiful as one a princess would wear!

"Alright! Let's go!" I stood up with a giant grin that wouldn't go away.

"Wait Polka, don't be so reckless you should have a plan so we don't just go barging in there tonight." Natsume suggested.

"Ha-Ha! Don't underestimate me!" I practically shoved those words into his face.

"You make it too easy to underestimate you…flatty." Was this guy trying to pick a fight with me or something? What irritated me more was how he said it like he didn't have a care in the world! Me? A flatty? What the hell were his eyes doing by my chest anyways?

"YOU PERVERT! You clearly have no self respect if you have to comment on other peoples bodies!"

"A pervert looks at someone because they have a certain interest in them. What makes you think anyone would be interested in you?"

"YOU WANNA GO OR SOMETHING HYUUGA?" I tried to pick a fight right back at him.

I could tell Narumi and Jinno were watching as if this was some giant movie. "There goes her temper again…" I heard Jinno mutter. Narumi seemed really interested, like he thought this was interesting too or something. They have such sick minds.

"Mikan, maybe you should listen to him just this once; he does have more experience and a plan isn't all that bad." Hotaru suggested.

I looked over at Hotaru and scoffed. "As if! The day I decide to listen to this pervert is the day I become a frickin zombie!" I pointed to him in accusation. "He's just a stuck up chauvinist who should _really _improve his personality!"

"But, it's impossible to improve perfection." Natsume said bluntly.

"Ugh you're such an egotistical bastard!" I pushed my chair back and stormed out of the room. "I'm leaving right now! Have a GREAT day!" I lashed at the room sarcastically and closed the door behind me after I exited the room. I looked down the hallways and started walking towards the indoor shooting range to blow off some steam. "Perfection my ass." I muttered under my breath.

…

BANG! I fired probably my hundredth round and put my gun down. "What's the point…?" I practically whispered to myself. "I've hit every single bullseye, _except_ for that damn one!" I closed one eye so I could ready my aim. I lifted up my Ultimate and leveled my eye with the aimers. This last target was about a quarter of a mile away. Oh, did I mention that this certain indoor shooting range was about a mile long? Alright! I've put off this one target! No way I'm backing down from this challenge. Three…two…one…BANG.

I heard a whistle. "Impressive, Polka."

I didn't have to turn around because I already knew who was standing in the doorway. I looked back over to the mannequin. Damnit, I was about a millimeter off from a perfect bullseye, but I got it in there. I felt a little pride go through me, that's right I'm a great marksman! Take that Hyuuga! My train of thought was that, he was here to provoke me or something so I should keep shooting to kind of send the message don't-mess-with-me-when-i-have-a-gun. I reloaded my gun and continued shooting at the new targets.

"Oi, we're leaving." I heard him say in between rounds.

"Finally, it's about time." I commented and started cleaning up my weapons. Accidentally, while I was packing up, I caught a glimpse of him.

He was just leaning against the wall in the doorway with his hands in his pockets. I hate to admit it but he looked kind of good like that. Okay _really_ good, for a masochistic pervert. He seemed to have changed clothes in what looked like was a rush. He had on black pants and a white dress shirt that was unbuttoned from the neck all the way down to his belly button. Trying to seduce me no doubt, what a lost cause! His hair was rather messy looking, and he had his shirt open so his bare chest was unfortunately visible.

"What happened to you? Lose a fight?" I laughed.

"Maybe, I just woke up from a nap." He combed his hand through his hair and pushed it back, only to have it fall back into place.

What? How is that losing a fight? That made absolutely no sense.

"In those clothes? Weirdo." I commented. Who takes a nap in like, tuxedo clothes anyways? I didn't even remember if he was wearing it earlier. I finished packing and placed my guns into one of the lockers that we each got so we didn't have to keep bringing our guns in and out, and I began walking towards the door.

In one swift movement, he closed the door behind him, grabbed one of my shoulders, turned me around, and shoved my back to the wall. I flinched a little at how sudden and hard the push was, closing my eyes for a little moment. When I opened them he had one arm straight with its hand right next to my head but a little bit above it. His other hand was in his pocket, and he hovered _very_ closely over me.

W-What is he doing? I looked up at his face. His hair was displaced again, but it looked fine. He closed his eyelids halfway and looked down on me. He's SMIRKING? Is this really the right time to be smirking? That's when I realized my position. He closed the door, has me pushed up against the wall and he's hovering over me like a… MOLESTER.

"Oh, and what _would_ you prefer I wear to sleep? Or perhaps…" He leaned in closer, practically nose to nose, "…would you rather I wear _nothing_ at all?" His smirk grew bigger.

What…the…UGH! I used both hands and pushed him away and off of me.

"DROP DEAD." I shouted as I walked out of the room. "Arrogant bastard!" I closed the door behind me.

And that damn Natsume was smirking. Hands in pocket, standing there, with that stupid look on his face.

* * *

**I'm so excited to start this story~**

**I've it all planned out so you should probably expect likee 10 or 12 chapters, if I don't lose interest in my story hahaha**

**When Mikan refers to _the black cat_ in italics it's her from the future does that make sense? Like right now Mikan doesn't know about him being a black cat or anything like that.**

**!~~~REVIEW~~~! [please (:]**


	2. Mission Part I

**I don't own Gakuen Alice…oh but if I did (: BTW all weapons are fake and don't exist. They all wear school uniforms to school.**

_**Ages:**_

_**Natsume: 18  
Mikan: 17  
Hotaru: 17  
Ruka: 18  
Tsubasa: 21  
Misaki: 20  
Aoi: 16  
Youichi: 16  
Sakurano, Subaru, and Tono: 23  
Reo: 25  
Sumire, Mochiage: 18  
Tobita (Inchou): 18  
Kokoro, Luna, Anna, Nonoko, Kitsuneme, Usami: 17**_

**Time Keep: Day One (the same day as chapter one, where Mikan first meets Natsume)**

…

I walked into the transportation room, which is really just a giant hangar filled with planes and cars and boats and such.

"Mikan you finally made it!" Narumi sang, although it was hard to hear him with all the noises of transportation vehicles getting revved up and fixed and upgraded. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah sorry about that, I just needed to clear my head." I assured him with a smile.

I walked up to Narumi, Hotaru, and Ruka, who were all standing by a black stretch limousine, a usual choice of transportation for us. Especially this time we needed to act rich and what better way to scream 'fancy' than arriving at a 5 star hotel in a stretch limousine? I looked around, Natsume wasn't here yet. Ha! Of course he isn't! I left that hopeless narcissist back at the shooting range.

"Alright! Is everyone here?" Narumi asked excitedly. "Good, now let's go!"

"Wait, I don't think Natsume's here yet." I brought up.

"Aw, worried about me are you?"

That…that…CHAUVINIST VOICE. I didn't even bother turning around, I knew he was behind me. But when did he sneak up on me, I didn't see him a moment ago? Maybe he is a good agent-no! I am _better_ than him. He's just too egotistical and makes himself _seem _great when in truth he isn't at all! And no, I _wasn't_ worried about him. If he ever got lost he could just seduce a woman and get her to escort him anywhere. If he was late then it could've very well jeopardized the mission and if we failed it would've been his fault. Hating him, I probably should have wanted him to miss the mission; I wouldn't have to deal with him and everything would be blamed on him, but I knew that the success of this was more important. _Save the world, then myself_. That's our motto.

I wanted to say a comeback like 'you would have made us late to start the mission' or something like that but that sounds really awkward and definitely not like a comeback at all, so I settled for an old favorite.

"Heh, you wish." I flashed a quick glare to add to the effect, then turned back around and continued walking toward the limo. It wasn't long before Hotaru, Ruka, and that retard followed me after.

…

"Welcome to the hotel, Hana Den, and enjoy your stay in Central!" the worker behind the desk told us, and handed us our room keys. "You are all on the 19th floor." Wow, that's pretty high up!

"Thanks, will do!" Ruka exclaimed happily and took the keys.

We all silently followed each other towards the elevator, like some quiet group of people. Honestly, it didn't really bother me, I was too busy looking at my surroundings. It was an amazingly fancy hotel, it made me start to wonder about our rooms. Would a hotel as big as this even have one bedroom rooms? The entire inside of the building was practically made of all marble and gold. Narumi and Jinno had already sent our bags to our rooms this morning, so it did feel kind of weird checking in without any bags. We found our way to the elevators and stood there in silence as we walked in. There was a person inside standing next to the buttons. Oh, a girl? I always pictured a guy dressed as a bellhop doing something like that.

"What floor?" She asked us. Aw! She had an English accent!

"19th." Natsume replied in a suave tone. I looked over out of curiosity, he was giving her that smothering look.

"O-Of course." Lovely, she fell for it. It was amusing to see her easily sucked in to his charm, and I tried my hardest not laugh. How weak!

Then mentally, I flashed a small glare at Natsume. What's with him? Flaunting his looks around for no reason at all, how indecent! He must have caught my look because his eyes turned to me and he gave me that egotistical look, like he was satisfied or having fun making me mad. That arrogant little…DING! The bell of the elevator rang and I was snapped back into my daydream. I looked into the hallway as the door opened. It looked like a regular hallway, just wider and made of carpet instead of marble flooring. The doors were regular, and my dreams were just crushed.

"It looks like we're in rooms 1902 and 1904." Ruka told us, looking at our key cards.

"Hey, they're right here!" I found them. I looked over at Hotaru. "So, which room do you want?" I asked in excitement.

"Well uh, Mikan…a-actually…" Ruka told me and my attention averted to him.

Hotaru moved slightly, and so my attention averted back to her. She had held up her phone and a message was opened on it on the screen. I looked more closely at the message.

_Mikan and Natsume are in one room. You and Ruka share the other. Have fun kiddies (; -Narumi_

HE SAID WHAT NOW. My head slowly cranked as it turned bit by bit as I glanced over at Natsume, then slowly cranked back over to the text. He must have caught my glance because he suddenly stood behind me and he was soon over my shoulder. I was shocked speechless and frozen…even though I did expect Narumi to pull something like this. He put his head over my shoulder. It was silent for a while as he was reading the text, but then he whistled in my ear.

"Nice." He commented.

I moved to the side, that was a loud whistle! "You can't seriously _like_ his decision?"

He looked over at me with that egotistical look on his face, trying to charm me again. To add on to that, he also put his arm around my shoulder. "Of _course_ I like it; think of the things we could do." He smirked, the arrogance!

I pushed him off of me. "Do them yourself." I shot back and walked over to room 1902, I honestly just picked it at random. I grabbed the key cards from Ruka and opened the door.

"Well then, I'll be heading into our room." I heard Hotaru said and then I heard the door next door open then close, so I figured she must have entered her room already.

Once I got in I tried to close the door as quickly as I could before Hyuuga could walk in. I shoved it closed without looking behind me and continued to walk towards the couch. This room was HUGE! What was this? I thought it was supposed to be a one bedroom room! Well I guess this _is_ a five-star hotel. When I walked in there was a living room with a HUGE couch that had a mini bed attached to it and probably a 60in flat screen plasma TV. To the left of the living room was the door to the bathroom and to the right of it was the door to the bedroom.

I heard the door shut and I sighed in relief. I succeeded in locking that bastard outside in the hallway! I was about to run onto the couch and take a nap when suddenly I suddenly tripped over something and fell flat onto the ground.

"What the…ow…" I complained, rubbing my butt. What did I just trip over? I sat up and looked back at what I might have fallen over. What's that…black shoes? Shit…there's no way. "H-How did you get in here?"

He simply walked towards our mini fridge and took out a soda. "You left the door open, and I slipped through." He opened the can and plopped down onto our couch with one arm over the back of it. "Some agent you are, getting surprised by me like that." He looked over and smirked after taking a sip, taunting no doubt.

I wanted to nag him about all of his flaws, but it would've been a waste of my breath to fight with this guy, so I settled for a scowl. I stood up and straightened out my outfit and walked straight into the bedroom, ignoring his stare as he watched me leave. He did have a point though, how could I have let him sneak up on me like that? Maybe he's just that much better at sneaking up on people. Alright he's good at being discreet I'll give him that, but just that. We'll see how he handles himself on the battlefield tonight at the fundraiser. I closed the door behind me, sure that he hadn't followed because I heard him turn the TV on.

I turned the lights on. Just as I expected, our bags were in the bedroom. We didn't have much, after all we were only there for one night. I found our small luggage in the walk in closet and our clothes were laid out on the bed. On one side was my dress, shoes, and accessories for tonight and on the other side was a tux; obviously assuming to be for Natsume. Maybe I could ruin them a little? Nah, it would jeopardize the mission.

I picked up the dress and put it against my body in front of a mirror, to see how it looked on me. It was a champagne color and it was ankle length. It was tight all around with a slit on the side that started at the top of my thigh and ended at the bottom of the dress, strapless as well. Should I try it on? No, I wouldn't want to ruin it before the party. Suddenly, I felt sort of tired, so I decided to carefully hang the clothes up in the closet and made room for myself on the bed. I checked the door one last time to make sure it was closed, even asleep I can't let my guard down with the pervert molester only a hallway away from me. Well, I was too tire to think and I just laid down on the bed and practically died.

…

Huh? What was that noise? It sounds like shuffling…damn someone turn out that light. I was half awake now, but my eyes were still asleep. I could hear noises that I couldn't make out so I slowly opened my eyes little by little. That light was coming from the open door; the hallway? I couldn't tell because there was someone in the way, a figure somewhere in the dark part of the room.

"Oh, you're awake?"

That voice…my eyes suddenly flew open and I sat straight up. "H-Hyuuga?"

"Well morning to you too." He said in a sarcastic tone, moving to the side a little, stepping into the light and continued…

HE'S SHIRTLESS? As soon as I saw skin I scooted as close to the edge of the bed as possible, scooting backwards far away from him as I could get. He looked like he was in the middle of changing. He had pants on but they were sagged, like he was trying to take them off then just decided not to and let them hang there like he was going to get back to it later. I got a quick glance before he continued to put his dress shirt on, buttoning it from bottom to top. My observations back in class were still sharp as ever, he was _really _fit. What was that, a six pack, eight pack?

Then I thought to myself, any other girl in my position would probably take the chance to grab him, pin him to the bed and fuck him. I silently laughed at myself. With a personality like his? Those other girls better not because if he gets them pregnant their kid won't turn out great. He's got good looks and a good physique, I'll give him that for now. Is it so crazy to see him like that and still not fall for him? Well, I always was a girl on personality instead of looks.

"What do you think you're doing?" I yelled at him. "I was taking a nap in here!"

He casually took his pants off and threw them on the bed, grabbing a pair of tuxedo pants in exchange and began to put those on. What the hell is he thinking?

"H-Hey! Don't just change in front of me like that!" I closed my eyes and looked away. "Have _some_ decency!" Getting undressed is one thing, but doing it so casually is another thing!

Somehow I could tell he finished putting them on so I gave myself a green light to look back over. "It's almost eight, you should start getting ready." Ignoring my question are you?

Rise above Mikan…rise above…I kept telling myself. So I stood up and walked around the bed and past Natsume so I could get my dress out of the closet. It was a large walk in closet that was actually really empty because we didn't really have any clothes to put into the drawers and onto the hangers. I found my dress hanging right where I left it and picked it up. It looked boring yet high class fancy and sophisticated, I couldn't really describe it, but I loved it. I expected nothing less form Narumi, he always had good taste. I wonder what would happen if I accidentally ruined it tonight? Like if I was fighting and someone ripped it or I spilled actual champagne on it. Well I guess _that_ wouldn't matter because it'd just blend in. Not like I was going to drink anyways, I'm underage!

Then I began to think, do I really know how to carry myself in a first-class situation? I was a spy, yes, which meant I was exceptional at acting and taking on my disguises and talking my way out of situations and things like that, but I was never really trained to behave like a first class socialite. I could act like one that's no problem at all, but when it comes to things like eating properly or waltzing that's what could mess me up because up until tonight I never actually had to be put into one of these dresses; last time I was a server who had to listen in on their conversations but that's a whole other story.

Before I began to change, I walked over to the double doors (a walk in closet with double doors for a one bedroom suite, five star hotel!) so I could close them. Then _he_ got in my way and pushed me back into the closet while walking in. I almost fell backwards again, but I did some fancy footwork that I learned in training and regained my balance. Not really the situation my training was for, but helped either way.

"Come on don't just walk in when I'm changing." I said it more like a nag instead of screaming in anger. I'm sure he would get me mad tonight and I had to begin practicing managing my temper so I didn't blow our cover.

"Oh, is that what you were doing?" That taunting tone again… "You were taking forever and I started to think you were playing with yourself in here so I decided to come in and join the fun." I looked at him in shock. Unbelievable! Who would say that to a girl anyways? That smirk on his face is starting to piss me off again.

"Drop dead." I simply shot back. I grabbed my dress, shoes, and accessories then walked past him and out of the closet.

"Where you goin?" I heard him say as I exited.

"To change." I said as I walked into the hallway and into the bathroom.

It didn't really take as long as I thought to get ready, which surprised me. But what surprised me more was that I was able to change completely without _him_ coming to bother me. Not that I cared anyways, better for me! Honestly, why were those girls in class so hung up on this guy? I bet if they really knew him they wouldn't be. Then there was Luna and Usami, the two who would definitely go for him. Wait-! I'm getting off track. Okay let's see what else I need.

I looked at myself in the mirror. I let all my hair down so I could cover up my earrings, which were actually receptors so I could listen to Narumi and Jinno when they talked to me and guided me. I guess they were microphones too because whenever I talked to them they could hear me, or maybe it was my necklace that did that? They never told me which one, but I put them on anyways. I put on a ring and bracelets just for the extra pizzazz and really play up the rich character. I was really excited for tonight! I got to act like royalty! Then I looked around for the last part of my outfit: my Ultimate.

Once I found it I put the gun into the leg strap. This was by far my favorite weapon to carry, I mean a leg-strap come on! Who _hasn't_ ever wanted to wear one of these things? Since the slit started near the top of my thigh, it mostly flowed out the rest of the way. The Ultimate was one of the smaller pistols, so when I put it on my thigh with the strap it wouldn't bulge out or anything. The weapons specialist back at the lab of the agency figured it all out.

I heard a knock on the door. "Yeah?" I responded, allowing the person to come in.

The door opened and Natsume walked in with his hands in his pocket. "Hey, I have to…oh?"

Did something happen? I looked up at him to see what was wrong. Instead, he was looking right at me with a look on his face like he had just been seduced or something. I looked down at myself, I wasn't doing anything. My leg was just propped up onto the counter so my leg would go through the slit and was completely out in the open. I needed the space so I could strap the gun on my thigh. Oh wait…

Stop looking at me! "You have to _what_." It was more of a hurry-up-with-whatever-you-have-to-do instead of a question.

He started walking over to me with that mischievous look on his face. What was he thinking? What was he going to do? There was this strange feeling that practically took over all of me except my mind. My head was screaming 'get your leg down!' but my body wasn't responding. What the hell could this guy do to me? I was smooth, a great actress, and downright lethal; but this _one_ guy could take down all of my defenses and make me…a…a…normal teenage girl. And let me tell you something, I am _not_ another one of those lovestruck or nerdy or bitchy teenage girl.

Out of his pocket he took out a knife and continued getting closer to me. At that point I snapped and threw my leg off the counter, taking my gun out of the pocket and pointing it at him.

"Woah woah woah! I thought we were all friends here." He showed no sign of fear as he put both of his hands up playfully, like he was joking around.

"What's with the knife?" I asked him. I was staring him down like a hawk now. With a weapon in hand, I don't care how handsome he is I couldn't afford to let my guard down anymore.

He put it on the counter and slid it over to me, putting both his hands back into his pockets. "You shouldn't carry around a gun in that dress; a knife would suit you more." He walked closer to me and touched my gun. "Let _me_ hold it. There's a pocket inside my jacket."

I pouted at him, and let him wrap his hand around my gun and take it from me. I hate admitting it but he had a point, a knife would be more discreet in this situation, and I _was_ curious at how he would pull off that famous move of taking a gun out of the inside of your jacket. I've never seen it done in person before. Silently fuming, I picked up the knife and slid it in the pocket of the leg strap as he put _MY_ gun inside his jacket.

"My lady." He said playfully in a fake British accent. "I do believe the party is starting without us." He changed his tone with that last sentence, now it sounded more alluring.

I got the hint and grabbed his arm so that he could lead me out of the room, down the hall, into the elevator, out of the elevator, back into another hallway, and finally into the ballroom.

There was a man waiting for us at the entrance. He was like security but he was dressed like a really fancy bellhop. He had a clipboard in his hands and one of those earpieces with the coil running down the back of their ear. When Natsume and I walked up to him, he stopped us.

"Names?"

"Nathan Hyatt, and this is my wife, Mikayla**." **Natsume said it with such clearance in his voice that it sounded almost professional and legit, almost as if he'd been around the high society lifestyle all his life. I mentally cringed slightly when he introduced me as his wife, the thought was too disturbing. But like the good spy I was, I acted like it didn't bother me, and that instead it made my face light up. I better win an award for this kind of acting.

The security guard looked at his clipboard and lifted up the top paper to check for our names. He crossed off something and stepped aside, allowing us entrance into the fundraiser party. Natsume still had me hold his arms as he led me inside. He nodded at the guard while we walked past him.

"Well, it's a good thing our names were on the list." I commented, while looking around at our surroundings. The ballroom was absolutely gorgeous!

"Well duh, Narumi and Jinno put our names on the list." He said in a rude tone.

"Hey now…don't kill my mood." I warned. "And of course I knew that, how long do you think I've been in this business anyways?" I hissed, so that no one would hear me.

I looked up at him, to see his expression, but he had his chin high as a cloud. "Beats me, I'm just surprised they allowed a kid like you to join." His face was still up but his pupils moved to the corner of his eyes and he looked down at me…SMIRKING.

What the hell's _that_ supposed to mean? I cleared my throat to suppress my anger. "You're starting to kill my mood, _dear_." I warned again.

He finally turned his head to face me. That action told me he realized I was trying to hold back from screaming. "Well _I _can think of some things to _put_ you in the mood, _sweetheart_." He said, trying to hit on me again.

"Sorry about that _honey_, but this is a mission not a playground." I shot back.

"Oh, so you two lovebirds are on a mission?"

Shit! I think I said that too loud! I turned around to try and convince whoever said that I was just kidding and that our mission was to look for someone we know then get some food and-oh, it's _them._

"Well well well, would you look at that. Holly and Russell have decided to join us." I said smoothly, using their fake names.

All four of us shook hands and bowed to each other. Since we all had our microphones and hearing devices on, the superiors heard us and began giving us instructions.

"_Yay! You all met up with each other nicely!" _Narumi's cheerful voice said from the other side.

"_Now remember, Natsume and Mikan are to keep an eye on suspicious activity and watch over the First President." _It's a shame Jinno was being more strict than Narumi. _"Ruka and Hotaru, give them the information and watch over Natsume and Mikan. The mission ends as soon as the party is over. If nothing happens to the First President, you are free to do whatever but make sure you're up and ready to leave the hotel at 4am for your 5am flight back home. You all have midterms, I believe?"_

We all groaned silently, then Narumi continued.

"_However, if anything does happen that threatens the First President, you are to eliminate it as soon as possible without blowing your cover to the entire party and you absolutely positively must not fail! Good luck!" _Gee thanks for the pep talk.

All four of us walked into a sort of secluded area of the ballroom, where no one could hear us .There was a table and some chairs that the guests were supposed to sit at so they could dine, and we chose the one farthest away from the crowd. We all grabbed some food before taking our seats, so that we looked like we were just a bunch of rich acquaintances who were having a conversation over dinner.

"I'm so excited to eat this!" I exclaimed.

"Idiot, act like you've eaten this your whole life. That's your role isn't it?" Natsume scolded while shoving a piece of steak into his own mouth.

"Why you-"

"OH YES!" Ruka interrupted me loudly. "The Harrison's our giving us a profitable trade! They're already beginning to train their son Silas into taking over their company some day!"

I was confused at first but then as he was talking to me he kind of motioned his head strangely that made me look to the side. A group of real aristocrats were walking dangerously close to our table. Ah! So that's what he was up to!

"Is that so?' Hotaru continued.

"Oh yeah! I hear Silas is supposed to turn into a promising child!" I joined in. Pretending was really fun! It was like we were sitting there making up some complete story.

"I've met him. He has no potential." Natsume said.

Ruka and I just looked at him with our jaws dropped and Hotaru just took a sip of her tea. NATSUME! Did you really have to go and ruin such a good story like that? Even if it was fake we were really getting somewhere! Honestly, how could anyone have the personality to go and just ruin it for us? Really, you're so unbelievable. Just, the nerve of that boy!

He put his arm around me. "Not to worry Mikayla, our child will be even greater!" To continue his joke, he patted my stomach. "I think we'll name him Natsume!"

Hold back your anger Mikan! You're undercover! Ruka and Hotaru just stared, anxious to know what happens next. I could read it in their faces. I took both of Natsume's hands off of me.

"That's a stupid name. I don't want him to be a chauvinistic, narcissistic, rude, stuck up, reckless, idiotic, and unattractive brute who ends up being lonely for the rest of his life because he can't get a girl."

I didn't even bother to look at his face to see his reaction. I could tell be the atmosphere surrounding him that I hit a nerve, pushed a button, broke a straw, you name it. I took a sip of my own tea, feeling proud of this accomplishment. Maybe now he'd stop bugging me and go for the other girls in our class instead.

Oh but I was wrong, instead he put his arm around me again and pulled me closer to him. His free hand went to my chin and lifted it up, putting his face so close to mine we were almost kissing. Why? Why is this making my heart beat so much? I hate him, I was absolutely sure of that fact. Did he plan to make me react like this? And why in this manner? Hotaru and Ruka and a ballroom full of high society citizens were all around us, they might get the wrong idea!

He smirked, making our faces come nose to nose. "Oh, so is that what you think of me?" He said it in that seductive tone that made me want to punch him yet fall for him at the same time. I chose punching him.

He sort of crouched over after I thrust my fist into his stomach, and he now was trying to recover from the pain, acting like he never felt it. That was very noble of him, but he should've known better not to piss of a girl who can make you hit the floor in one shot.

"Hey!" Hotaru caught our attention. Wow, I never notice but when he did that, I sort of felt like we were in our own world. Because when Hotaru called for us it seemed like I had woken up and returned to reality. Can a person have that kind of power? Yes, what was that called, hypnotization. I'll be watching my back from now on, and make sure that molester sitting next to me doesn't try to hypnotize me into going for him.

"Quit dicking around!" Hotaru continued to scold us.

I quickly straightened myself up, but as for Natsume I couldn't care less about what he did. "We have to fill you in on all the details right now." Ruka explained to us.

"Right here? We're so out in the open." I asked.

"But that's what makes this mission so much more fun." Natsume commented.

Hmmm, he had a good point, I'll give him that. But I fumed a little, I hated it when he was right or had any sort of point at all.

"Alright, listen. Here's what happened." Hotaru began.

* * *

**So my plan was making their ENTIRE mission this one chapter, but it got too long. And the whole time keep thing at the top is to keep time on what day it is and stuff in case it gets confusing and to help keep the mood on how things are going (:**

**For instance they're undercover spies that still go to school, so I want to keep the feeling that even though they're on a mission right now, they are still students that go to school, hence, undercover. **

**Please review so I can have motivation to continue!**

**Dedicated to:  
Melyss  
Aetherione  
Sajesanime  
Kylee-Cat  
Violet Lee  
Animechicki**


	3. Mission Part II

_**Ages:**_

_**Natsume: 18  
Mikan: 17  
Hotaru: 17  
Ruka: 18  
Tsubasa: 21  
Misaki: 20  
Aoi: 16  
Youichi: 16  
Sakurano, Subaru, and Tono: 23  
Reo: 25  
Sumire, Mochiage: 18  
Tobita (Inchou): 18  
Kokoro, Luna, Anna, Nonoko, Kitsuneme, Usami: 17**_

**Time Keep:  
Day One (the same day as chapters one and two, where Mikan first meets Natsume)  
Day Two (after the mission)**

**Character Intros: Mihara Kanbu is the "Medusa" of the Z Organization**

* * *

I kept a rather infatuated look on my face when Hotaru was telling us all the details. My plan was to look professional, like we were talking about business and politics and what not. But I wasn't completely acting because I was interested in what Hotaru had to say, it was the details of our mission so I played close attention while eating my dinner as if what she was saying wasn't anything top secret…because it kind of was.

She told us about the assassin. His name was Mihara Kanbu and he was once apart of our agency however, he left because of some crazy thoughts about corruption had poisoned his mind and he blamed it all on the First President. His favorite weapon to use for murder was a sword, so we were to expect that would be his method of death for the First President. I pointed out that it would be kind of hard to conceal a sword but Hotaru told me that concealing it was one of his greatest talents, so I felt a little down after that. Natsume and I were supposed to continue walking around and mingling with the other aristocrats to continue being incognito, just as a safeguard that we might not be discovered. Hotaru and Ruka were going to continue walking around and mingling just like us, but away from us so that we wouldn't draw suspicion that we were together as a group. The operation was simple, Natsume and I watch the First President and Hotaru and Ruka watch over us. If nothing happened then the mission was false or the assassin decided not to do it.

For tonight, I hope that's the case.

We split up after that discussion to begin our mission. Hotaru and Ruka left to do, well, I never really bothered in finding out what they were up to because it wasn't my duty. Natsume and I stayed seated at the table, since we didn't really know anyone else in particular. I figured it would be strange if people saw us two just sitting here and not talking to each other, so I somehow found the heart to start up a boring conversation just for the heck of it. But if he pulls even the slightest move to piss me off-!

"So, are you taking the midterm tomorrow?" We moved around so we were sitting across from each other, and I put one elbow on the table, putting my cheek in my hand.

"Of course I am. I don't want to fail school." He said in a rather obvious tone.

I just asked on a whim, expecting the answer to be _no_ like it should have been. "You just got here though? I'd assume you'd want to actually learn about what's on the midterm."

He laughed. LAUGHED! I glared at him, was that really necessary? Pretending like he cried from laughing so much, he wiped his eye a little. "Oh you are too funny." He commented.

I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms, giving him a rather cold look. "Glad to see I amuse you." I said sarcastically.

He stopped wiping his eye and straightened himself. "Please, it'll be a piece of cake."

Impossible! There is no way you can just waltz into a new school without knowing what we're learning and just plan to take AND PASS midterms the next day!

"Get real, no ordinary person could do that." I tried to crush his dreams.

He leaned over the table, putting one elbow on it and resting his chin on his hand. "Oh, so I'm _extraordinary_?"

Now, I laughed. Mocking him I pretended to wipe my eye too, only I made it clear I was just acting. "Oh you are too funny." I said in a sarcastic way. "Do you really believe that?"

"Come on, I learned all that stuff they were teaching you guys today almost ten years ago; it's like 2nd grade math to me." He smiled triumphantly. "I'll ace that test no problem."

"Yeah sure." I smiled with fake sweetness. "I'll make sure to pray for you." I stood up, pushing my chair back and placing both hands on the table. "I'm going to talk to someone else, maybe make some new friends or something." I stretched my arms a little and began to walk away.

Before I could fully leave the table Natsume grabbed one of my hands and stopped me, so I turned around to face him. He was still holding my hand, and looking at me earnestly with a…concerned look? That was strange. His smile was gone and he looked legit serious, his eyes were even squinted a little more so he had a worried look too. Well, this was definitely catching me off guard.

"Are you sure you should be going alone?" He pressed.

I smiled and practically ripped my hand away from his grasp. "Don't forget who I am. Trust me, I can handle myself." I responded and continued walking away.

I'm not sure what he did after that, because I decided to forget about him and just enjoy myself…while continuing the mission of course. I know Narumi and Jinno said about us being partners together but honestly I didn't need him. If I could do the past missions without any help, I wouldn't need any now. Who do they think I am anyways? I'm their top spy!

I met some really nice people along the way. It was easy to talk to them, I just took on the role of Mikayla Hyatt and brought it up to an extreme level to make it even the least bit believable. It was around 9:30, so there was only half an hour left of the fundraiser party. They had announced the winners of the raffles and most of the money given by the others were all collected.

I bid farewell to a family I was talking to, and headed off in a separate direction. I looked around out of curiosity to see what Hotaru, Ruka, and maybe even Natsume were up to. Suddenly, I felt a tap on my shoulder and I stopped my search to turn around.

"Excuse me miss, may I have a dance?"

I turned my body fully around. In my head, I smiled victoriously. Never have I been more relieved. It was the First President. He was asking _me_ to dance? I wonder if he knew who I was one of his students. Or if he even knew that I was a spy sent to protect him. I smiled as nicely as I could to the First President.

"Of course, it's nice to meet you." I curtsied. Good, this way it would be easier to watch out for an attacker.

By his lead, I let him put a hand on my waist while I but mine on his shoulder, and then we held each others hands. The band began playing a new song and we started to sway around to the music. Since it seemed like he didn't know me, i didn't have to feel self conscious about how I behave too much because if he knew I was one of his students well, let's just say I wouldn't want him to see me be so suave with my remarks I made. My remarks had to be suave because I was undercover as an aristocrat, and they have a very formal way of speaking, shall we say.

We danced in silence, by that I mean none of us was talking to each other. But honestly, there was no need to. I liked the First President and I was happy we were protecting such a good guy. We didn't have to say anything to each other and for some reason dancing around with him felt so natural and I had a great time. However, there was a drawback. This strange aura surrounding his smile and kindness seemed…

Cold.

The way he talked and the way he carried himself he seemed like the nicest guy on the earth. The kind that would fight for the better and always keep promises and such, but for some reason, I had this strange sense that was similar to cynical or evil. In other words, the total opposite of what I deemed to be a mask on his face. And I think, my 'partner' felt that way too.

It was only for a short second but as we dance, I saw out of the corner of my eye, Natsume…standing up against the wall. He had his arms crossed and he seemed like he was watching me from the side, kind of like in a protective way. I only caught a glimpse of him, but he had that same look. The look he gave me before I left him at the table that made him seem concerned or worried. But, why did he have such a look on his face? I was dancing with the First President, he should be proud I made it to such measures to make our mission easier. But I could understand what seemed to be his uneasiness because I also felt uneasy about the First President, but it was a small sacrifice for our mission. Because this way, it would be easy to watch over him, and for some reason when I saw Natsume…

He did not seem pleased.

You little non-appreciative prick! I'm suffering from this hovering fear about the First President just so we can protect him more easily and all you can do is stand there and watch me? But then, something hit me. Maybe he wasn't watching me. Maybe…he was watching the man I was dancing with. That's what we were supposed to do anyway but honestly, to give him such a cold look, a little overkill don't you think? And if he was watching me, well he can stop because number one, I didn't need him to and number two, that was Hotaru and Ruka's job.

All these thoughts were hidden behind the smile and laughter I showed to the First President while we were dancing. Unfortunately, all my 'hard work' came to a halt when the song ended and he excused himself somewhere else, and I was once again by myself on the dance floor, having to walk around and look for someone to talk to. In a hurry to make a decision, I quickly figured that I had broken the regulations of the mission long enough, and I headed towards where I saw Natsume standing and sure enough, he was still there. I was definitely going to find out why he had that look and get some answers.

"Oh, what's wrong with your face, _dear_?" I asked tauntingly. I thought about starting my questions by pointing out his facial expression that they were about.

His eyes still had that cold look in them when they looked over at me. I have to admit a chill sort of went down my spine. I had never seen him look so…murderous. He was always joking around or being an annoyance but this look seemed so troubled and lethal. I guess it was like the real eyes of how an agent's eyes should be, to put it simply. After giving me that staredown, he closed his eyes for a long while, then put one hand in his pocket and used his other arm to hang it over and around my shoulders, then he opened his eyes and looked at me. Only when he reopened them, they were amused eyes like how I was used to, and it was like the other ones had vanished completely.

"I was afraid I'd lose my lovely wife when I saw you dancing with another man." Yep, he's back.

"Can't lose what you never had." I said under my breath, making sure he didn't hear me.

He smirked. "Not yet." Crap, a spy's superhearing.

I decided to leave it at that. If I had said anything back he probably would have some other snappy comeback like he always did. I'd let him save his best for Luna and Usami, they deserved it much more than I did.

Suddenly, white noise sounded from my earpiece and then Hotaru began talking. I looked over at Natsume, and it looked like he had heard it too. We walked together to a secluded area while listening in.

"_Mikan, Natsume. Look to your left. There's a six foot man with black hair, gelled back and he's wearing glasses. Black tuxedo with a black bowtie." _She told us. I was looking around with my eyes to try and find out where she was, making sure not to turn my head because that would be obvious I was looking around, and _that_ would look suspicious.

"I see him." Natsume replied before I could. That was my line!

"_He's been eyeing the First President all night. Ruka confirmed it. He has a weapon on him. Inside coat pocket. It's an Ultimate, just like yours Mikan."_

I smiled triumphantly. "Well he sure has good taste." I saw Natsume just roll his eyes.

"So whadya want us to do? Kill him?" Natsume said it in such a casual manner, as if killing him was as natural as breathing. It was almost terrifying. This guy…who _is_ he _really_?

It would seem strange that naturally murdering surprised me this much, I'm their top agent. However, I live by my own rules too. My choice is never to kill when it's not necessary, and I've only ever had to kill one person, and I can guarantee that it was the _complete _opposite of doing it naturally. I had to muster up so much…well…that's a different story.

"_Do whatever. Our mission is to eliminate the threats." _Hotaru stated blandly.

I turned around to talk to Natsume. "Here, I'll ask for a dance and try to get him to spill something. And you keep listening in on the conversation so if anything happens then-HEY! Are you even paying attention?" Right in the middle of my plan he decides to just turn his back to me and start walking away?

"Yeah yeah do whatever." He waved the back of his hand at me real quick.

"And where are _you_ going?"

He shrugged his shoulders and just continued walking. Damn Natsume! What was he thinking? Then again, I left him for a while, it only serves me right for him to leave me…maybe. Fine! Be that way! I can handle myself anyways. This is just another job I have to finish anyways. I left on my own accord and walked into the crowd to try to dance with this Mihara guy.

I stood there for a while, contemplating on how I should go about this. Should I just casually dance near him while looking at him the whole time so that he notices I'm eyeing him and have him come over to me? No, it would seem like I was hitting on him or trying to seduce him. But for a woman to have to ask a man in this situation, it was practically forbidden or impossible. Then maybe I didn't need to dance with him at all. I could just walk up and tell him I have business, but then that would require me to completely make up some entire story about the Hyatt Company or whatever and that was way too much work for something so simple.

I decided to go with choice three because it was the one that came the easiest to me. I was about to leave the wall and walk towards him but I guess I must have been standing there for a while because Natsume was completely out of sight, not that I saw him leave. And then suddenly, all the lights went out in the ballroom and everyone was murmuring and screaming.

Damnit! I had absolutely no doubt in my mind this was part of the plan to assassinate the First President. Where was he? How could I let him out of my sight? And speaking of which, I never saw Mihara either. Where was he too? This was bad…I wasn't paying attention and now I lost _both_ of them? Stupid Natsume, distracting me like that…no…it was all my fault. I wasn't able to do my duty properly. Shit, oh well what's done is done, and all I can do is try my best to fix it.

"Hotaru! Ruka! What's happening?" I screamed into the hidden microphone. It was nearly impossible for anyone to hear what I said because they were screaming too and it was really loud in the room.

"_He's got the First President!" _Ruka said.

"_Mikan, we won't be able to get to him in time. You and Natsume have to go after him, we'll try to catch up." _Hotaru said. I could tell they were running around because they were taking quick breaths.

I sighed and took off my loose jewelry that I wasn't using for spying purposes, they would only get in my way. "Geez, don't sound so optimistic. It's just me."

"_W-What do you mean?" _Ruka asked.

I patted my thigh to check if my knife was still there. "Bastard went off on his own and won't respond to me." Good, it was still there. "I'm gonna look for the First President."

I backed myself up against the wall and closed my eyes, though I didn't need to because it was dark. I was trained for these situations, to feel everything around me without actually touching them. I had to stay still and analyze before I actually started to mobilize.

"_Will you be alright on your own?" _Ruka asked, sounding so worried.

I smirked at how foolish that question was.

"_Don't underestimate her, Ruka. She'll be fine by herself." _Hotaru exclaimed so quickly she nearly interrupted Ruka's sentence.

I reopened my eyes and started to move around. Well, so far for my plan of dancing with that Kanbu guy. As I was moving around, I began to think like a criminal to catch the criminal. If I was trying to assassinate someone and decided to turn off the lights, I would kill him right then and there. But since it seemed that nothing happened, started to rethink the plan. So after turning off the lights, I would probably kidnap him; silence him somehow and take him out of the ballroom to take care of business elsewhere. Preferably a secret place where there was a chance practically no one would find my target. Yes! That must be it!

"Hotaru! Ruka! We're looking in the wrong place!" I hissed, heading outside of the ballroom.

"_What?" _Hotaru asked.

"I think Mihara took him outside of the ballroom to finish the job."

"_Are you sure?" _

"Yeah, I'm trying to find a way out of here."

"_All the doors are locked, but if you need an escape door the best one is the exit near the stage." _Ruka told me.

"Got it." I looked around and my sight had adjusted to the dark now so I could barely see the silhouettes of everyone and everything. The stage was huge so I just followed the shadow and headed to the stage. I found the door pretty easily, and felt around the door for a weak spot or something. I thought about just full out blowing the thing open but that would've caused too much of a disturbance.

Just to completely wing it I leaned against it to see what would happen. Huh? That's strange, it opened up right away. Ha! This _must_ be the door he used to escape with. I only opened it just enough to let me through, but I wasn't sure how many people noticed the small slit of light I was letting in from opening the door. I silently closed it behind me.

Now I was in some fancy office, but it was simple. The room was large yet it only had a desk, a bookcase, pen and paper, and a chair to sit in. There was only one window that stretched from wall to wall and floor to ceiling. I don't get it, why would an exit lead into here? Or maybe, it wasn't an exit at all. Maybe it was another door that led to another room. It was probably labeled exit so no one would accidentally come in here and find it. Well good thing I didn't bust open that door 'on accident'.

I didn't see any other way out, I came through the only door that was in the room. So that must mean that Mihara and the First President were hiding somewhere in this room? Maybe as a trap, or maybe they weren't in this room after all.

Just as I was about to turn back around I heard talking. However, it wasn't coming from behind the door I had just come in through, it was coming from behind the bookcase. I ran over to it, surely it couldn't be a secret passage…those things only existed in movies! Then again, now that I think about it, my life is practically a movie. I looked at the bookcase, if something like this existed in movies, then the way it works should probably be just like the movies. If I pull our or push the wrong book, I might be getting myself into a booby trap or something of that sort. Not that I haven't before, but it was just not knowing what kind of trap it would be.

I felt like I was in a house of riddles, or rather a room of riddles. Damnit! I don't have time for petty little games like this. I knew absolutely nothing about the owner of the ballroom, or Mihara, or whoever lives in this room, so I had absolutely no clues on how to go about this. I felt the spines of the books, gently brushing them with my finger, just to see if I could find some sort of button or something that doesn't feel right.

It must have been habit or something, but after my finger rubbed against it I would rub two of my fingers together just to get the dust off. It wasn't surprising that most of these books had dust on them, it seemed like they were just put here for show. However, that's when I noticed something strange. There was this book that I touched however, when I rubbed my fingers together, I felt absolutely no dust at all. I took a closer look at it, and there was no dust on it, as if it had been recently touched.

Then I looked around the other books, and they all had dust on them. Just _this one_ book didn't have dust on it. That's it! If they used this to open the secret passage they would have collected the dust and there wouldn't be any left. I put my hand over the spine of the book, and tried to push it in. It didn't work, so then it must be one I pull out. I pulled it out and it came out completely. Strange, it shouldn't have come out all the way. I looked at the empty space. Oh lovely, on the backboard of the bookcase where the book had been was a keyhole. I needed _a key_ to open this? A KEY? I didn't have any time to find an effing key!

"SCREW THIS! I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS CRAP!" Booby trap or not I'm blowing this place up. I gathered together my anger and my haste into one blow and I punched and kicked the bookcase.

That's one of the pros of having the door to a secret passage be so old, it was practically rotted away and broken down, so it easily opened. Seriously, why didn't I just do that before?

Whoever was talking back here, must have left. I ran down the stairs into what seemed to be a secret tunnel. As I was running I heard footsteps that seemed to also be running, only they were farther in front of me. Good! This is good!

"Hotaru! Ruka! I found them! I'm in pursuit." I told them.

"_Great! Where are you?" _Ruka replied.

"Secret tunnels. I can feel a breeze. Meet me outside." I told them.

I could see a light up ahead, probably from the moonlight, as I chased after them. But what was weird, was that I only heard one pair of feet. Was Mihara carrying the First President while running? Finally, I exited out of the tunnels, and we were what looked to be a secret garden. Interesting, a secret room leading to a secret passage that leads to a secret garden. Geez, my life is starting to sound more and more like a movie.

I saw them in plain sight now. Actually, I only saw one person. Who was it? The First President? Mihara?

"Hey! Stop!"

Funny how the world works. A teenage girl like me was able to catch up to a grown man. My hunch was right, it was Mihara, but he was alone. Where was the First President? I grabbed his shoulder and threw him onto the ground, reaching under my dress through the slit to grab my knife out and point it at him.

He laughed.

LAUGHED.

In what world would you laugh when you have a knife on you?

"Well _this_ is quite the surprise." He had a low and gruff voice. "I expected the agency to send someone, but a little girl?" He started cracking up.

I dug my heel into his stomach. "Where is he?" I interrogated.

"_Him_? That stupid president of yours? You're a little late babe. He's long gone."

"What did you do with him?"

He laughed. "What do you _think_ I did with him?" Something about his voice seemed off, maniacal, with a sprinkle of mad genius. Somehow he pushed me over, knocking the knife out of my hand. Then he pinned my arms and legs to the ground, hovering his entire body over me like predator and prey.

Shit! This isn't good!

He leaned his face in closer. "Let me tell you this _little girl_. Whatever I did or didn't do to your little prez is definitely not what I'm about to do to _you_." He laughed. "No, that would have been gay." I spit in his face.

"Go to hell." Crap, I'm trying to break free but stupid physics won't let me. He was twice my weight and probably more muscular, thanks gender difference.

I could tell that ticked him off because he then picked up my knife from the ground and held it high in the air. "You little bitch!" I fake gasped that made it sound like I was panicking, and then he started to chuckle. "Ha you're scared now aren't you little kitten? I've got you now!" He was about to plunge the knife into me.

I smiled. "Not quite. You see, I'm a married woman."

He stopped, the tip barely touching me. "And what's that supposed to-?"

Blood. All…over…me! Someone shot him smack in the middle of his head, and the bullet left a perfect tunnel in his cranium. The force pushed him back, and he fell off of me. Not before I quickly crawled as far as I could so wouldn't get more of his blood on me. I turned around to see who had dealt the final blow.

A smirk. "Married huh?" I glared at him. "I leave you alone for a few minutes, and I come back to see my wifey in such a compromising position with another man who _isn't _me?" He was reloading his gun, putting a new magazine in then perched it on his shoulder, pointing it up. "That's _twice_ tonight you've broken my heart, love." He said with overdramatic and fake sadness.

"Cry me a river why don't you." I shot back, getting up. "And while you're at it, wash this dress in it. You got blood _all over_ it!" I walked over to him.

"Yeah yeah." He carelessly slung his…no wait…MY GUN over his shoulder. "But it looks like I came to your rescue. Like a knight in shining armor, wouldn't you say?"

I pretended like I threw up at his statement, then I went back to seriousness. "Why did you kill him?" I asked. "I didn't even get anything out of him!"

He shrugged. "Not my problem."

I reached over and took my gun back. "And where the hell did you go off to?"

He wiped his hands all over his tuxedo, as if wiping it clean or something. "Took care of some business."

"Like what?" I pressed.

"Mihara didn't have the First President with him, now did he?"

He turned his back to me to try and head back inside. What a swift answer, even for him. But he didn't need to say anything else, it was easy to understand. However, what bothered me was wondering how he got to him before I could. Or maybe, he already knew where he was? And then somehow, he was able to find me. What exactly did he do anyways? Damn Natsume!

"Hey! Go get me a new dress. I can't go back in there like this." Of course I said it like an order, he owed me!

He stopped, turned around, and smirked. He looked like another mad genius, with some sort of evil plan in his head. He walked back over to me and took the jacket of his tuxedo off.

"That's not long enough to cover my entire dress."

"Well, I'll just fix that." He kneeled down in front of me and grabbed the bottom of my dress.

"W-What are you doing?" I screamed, I felt like I was being violated and I was so tempted to kick him but he told me to just wait.

He ripped off a lot of the bottom of my dress off, shortening it to a mini skirt length. While he was doing it he was _so close_ to revealing my underwear and I swear if he _did_ a whole lot of something would've gone down, involving my fist and his pain. I expected him to make some sort of smart and masochistic remark, being so close to my now bare legs because he was literally ripping my dress off of me, but his face looked professional and careless the entire time.

When he was done he stood up and tossed the extra fabric of my dress into one of the bushes and made me put his jacket on. I buttoned it up to hide the dress, however he made it so short so that it would all hide behind his jacket, that now it looked like I wasn't wearing anything at all underneath it.

"There, now let's go back."

He said it like he was in a rush. He said it without the slightest bit of humor in his voice. Why the sudden seriousness? Maybe he feels bad for killing him and wants to get away from the body as quick as possible. Geez, giving off such a cool façade. What could possibly be going on in his head? I brushed it off, I didn't give crap about him.

I followed beside him as we reentered the hotel and made it across the lounge to the elevators as secretly as we could. We got a few looks of course but I didn't mind because in a few minutes I would be coming back down, cleansed and all. It wasn't even midnight yet, and like hell I was just going to allow myself to pass out after the mission we just had. My plan was to head down to the bar lounge and study for my exams. Oh and the bar? No, I don't drink alcohol, not old enough for that. However, the agency did give us fake IDs that said we were 21 because there is some information only people of that age can know. At such a high society hotel it would probably be as rowdy as a library, a nice little classy place where I can just be alone in my thoughts and focus. Jinno did say if everything was in the clear and we deemed it as safe we could hang around the hotel.

It was a silent ride inside the elevator. It wasn't an awkward atmosphere with Natsume, for some reason he was silent most of the ride. He looked like he had something on his mind, so I figured not to bother him. Someone else might think of me as strange for thinking this, but even though I just witness him kill someone right above me I wasn't afraid of him. AT ALL. In fact, I still despised his personality; it was as if nothing happened, and that's exactly how I treated it.

The elevator bell rang and the doors opened. Natsume stepped out first and I followed all the way until he opened the doors to our room and let me in. As soon as I walked in, I remembered something important.

"Oh crap!" I turned to my microphone. "Hotaru! Ruka! Are you guys still there?" I whispered frantically.

"_Well, you guys sure did a clean job." _Good, an immediate, and sarcastic might I add, response from Hotaru.

I sighed as Natsume entered the bathroom and I went into the bedroom to take his coat off and change into other clothes. "I'm guessing you guys saw the mess we made outside?"

"_Yeah! Where are you guys?" _Ruka asked.

"S-Sorry you guys...I forgot to tell you." I apologized. "Wait, my earpiece was always on wouldn't you have heard what was going on?"

"_We had to turn the earpieces off for a while, the noise it was making was too loud for the place we were at. We would've been found out immediately."_

Which then, brought a very sad thought to my head. "D-Did you hear everything I said tonight? B-Before you turned it off?"

"_You mean that adorable conversation you were having with Natsume and when you were dancing with the First President? Oh yeah, we heard all right." _

"Great…" I sighed.

"_So don't get on my bad side Mikan. I'll be sure to use this against you someday." _Hotaru blackmailing…as always.

Shit. If they heard everything I did then that must mean…Natsume heard too. Just him listening in on my conversation in general didn't bother me, I just preferred to work alone on some cases because the things I would have to resort to weren't exactly things I would reveal to my friends. But why hasn't he made fun of me for it? And why act like he never heard in the first place? Maybe he turned off his earpiece, that would make sense since I couldn't reach him for a while but still.

"So what are you guys doing right now?" I asked.

"_Well the plan is we'd both go back to our room. Ruka's gonna study and I'm gonna write a report to Narumi and Jinno."_

"In that case, I'm taking this off. Night."

"_Good night Mikan." _They both replied and I proceeded to take the earpiece out.

I chose an outfit to wear and carried it all the way to the bathroom. I didn't realize how long it seemed I was talking to Hotaru and Ruka because I was the only one left in the room. Did Natsume leave already with changed clothes? I shrugged it off, none of my business. I entered the bathroom and showered.

…

Let's see, the symbol for Iron is I. No wait…Fe. So then Pb is what?

"Damn chemistry!" I said through clenched teeth.

I was sitting by myself at my own table which would only seat two people. It was right up against the window so I had a view at the same time. I looked outside the window, tapping the eraser of my pencil against my lips hoping it would somehow give me a blast of knowledge.

Suddenly, someone grabbed my beverage, looked at it, and then harshly set it back onto the table. This brought my attention away from the window and I looked at the person who did that, and it seemed he had found his way into the seat across from me and now stared at me intently, one arm hanging behind the chair.

"Coffee?" He taunted and clicked his tongue at me. "You're at a _bar_ lounge. Get something real to drink." He turned his head. "Hey bartender, I'd like two glasses of Cabernet Sauvignon."

I rolled my eyes and continued with my work. Whatever, I'm putting Pb down as Mercury! So then Hg is…Lead?

"Here you are, sir." I didn't need to look up to see the waiter handing us the two glasses on a tray. Natsume grabbed them both off of the tray and put them on the table, allowing the waiter to return to being a bartender.

He slid one glass across the table and then picked up the other one with the hand that wasn't slung over the chair. I glanced at the glass that had gotten closer to me, but only for a second, then I looked back over to my studies. I noticed he wasn't drinking it yet, just twirling it around like he was mixing it or something.

"Come on you'll like it, it's a classic." He pressed.

"What? No Domaine de la Romanee-Conti?" I pretended to complain. The number of protons is the atomic number right? No, electrons. Wait, then what do neutrons do?

He whistled. "You've got some expensive taste, doll."

I snickered. "I don't drink." More like can't, I'm only seventeen! I looked up. Don't tell me he's actually going to drink it? I looked up at him out of plain curiosity.

He just straight up downed the whole thing like it was nothing, like he was used to it. Nonchalantly.

How can he just drink it so casually? And the entire glass? If I were to even consider drinking it I would have to muster up so much strength in my taste buds and after that it would take me way more than just one gulp to finish it. I hope he gets drunk and decides to get himself into some trouble. Ugh, that won't do anything. Narumi or Jinno would just pull some strings to get him out of it.

"What are you doing? I'm pretty sure you're not twenty-one." I said in a nagging tone.

He smirked and shoved a plastic rectangle in my face. "According to this I am."

Natsume Hyuuga. Age 21. I sighed. Of course, it was a fake ID that the agency gives all the agents altering our ages because there is some information that only people twenty one or older can obtain. I happened to have one in my back pocket right now. Mikan Sakura. Age 21. That's what it says.

"Can you stop bugging me? I'm trying to study." I was beginning to get aggravated.

He leaned over the table with an elbow and it made a subtle yet noticeable bang noise and it caught my attention. He was trying to smolder me with his eyes. It seemed like he upgraded his smirk. Trying to lure me into romance? Ugh the nerve of this guy! Exactly how many times is he going to keep placing this bet until I make him fold?

"Stop it!" I said it loudly real quickly before anyone else around us could notice.

"Stop what?" He asked, that smug look on his face still plastered on like glue.

"Oh don't play dumb!" I said it as rudely and quietly as possible. We were in a bar lounge and the only thing playing was really the elevator like jazz playing in the speakers. "Honestly just stop throwing around that look just for the heck of it, you did the exact thing to that girl in the elevator."

He started to chuckle! Unbelievable. "What, you think I flashed her that look for the heck of it? Come on, I don't just show myself off without gaining anything in return."

I was almost too scared to ask. "Return…?"

Again with the smug look. "I got to see you get jealous."

I snickered. "Don't make me puke." Egotistical brat. "I felt sorry for the poor girl if that's what you're talking about."

He leaned his face in closer across the table. "I know what we can do to make you feel _happier_."

If I didn't need to use it I would've snapped my pencil in half. "Why you-!"

He backed off into his chair. "Ooh testy temper." He pretended to be scared. "I hope we don't start a fight." He said sarcastically.

I scoffed. "Please, I could beat you in my sleep."

"Yeah in your dreams maybe." What did he say? "Get real, Polka."

I groaned. "Stop with the nickname, I can't believe you're still on about that."

He smiled, took _my_ glass of wine and started downing it. "Real interesting choice of underwear." He paused. "_Polka._"

That does it. He's gonna come down here and drink himself silly, insult me, and then calls me by a nickname from my _underwear_? He is so damn lucky he better be thanking whoever is beyond the skies that we were sitting at a bar lounge in a fancy hotel, otherwise he'd be trying to get is head out of his ass. I'm a spy, and I'm a professional actress. Kill him with kindness. Or rudeness, in this case. I simply packed up my study materials, stood up, and walked away. I have to admit I was kind of proud of myself for staying so calm and rising above. That'll show him he can't get to me!

"Eff off."

And I left that useless garbage sitting there, getting himself drunk. Oh, I'm definitely locking the door. Key card or not he won't be able to open the door. I walked into the elevator and the girl who looked like a bellhop in the elevator led me to the 19th floor and I got out, returning into the room. Locking the door with the deadbolt of course.

Once inside the room, I went into the bedroom and set everything down on the desk. Surprisingly, the bedroom was quite roomy and there was even enough room for a small one person couch. I sat down in the desk and started where I left off. Okay so ions are…

*****THE NEXT DAY*****

RING. RING. RING.

"U-Ughh…hello?"

"This is your 4am wake up call."

Four in the morning…? "Oh, right. Thanks." I hung up. I threw the covers off of me and sluggishly walked over to the bathroom to get ready.

I did everything I normally do in the morning. I showered, washed my face, brushed my teeth, and did my hair. I usually put on a little makeup but I didn't bring any with me on this mission. Fine by me. Still half asleep I slowly walked into the closet, closed the doors, and changed out of my pajamas. After that I left the bedroom. Narumi and Jinno would've sent some others from the agency who weren't spies or doing field work like us to come pick up our stuff that wasn't really ours. The agency just gave it to us for a while.

What's the time? 4:20? I should probably get down at 4:30 and meet up with the others so we could home. What was the time we leave? 5:00? It was strange that we drove a limousine all the way here and we were flying back home. Well, the agency sure is dynamic. Whatever I'll eat a muffin or something. I went to the kitchen to see a basket of muffins, complimentary perhaps. I picked one up and took a bite out of it. Hmm, why do I get the feeling I'm forgetting something? It feels like something's missing…

Ew. I cringed at my realization. I know he's not in the bedroom, if he even tried to get into the same bed as me I would have woken up immediately and shot him right in the head. Wait, I locked the door didn't I? I almost laughed at myself. I must've been drunk last night, a simple deadbolt wouldn't be able to keep the door closed for more than a minute, even for me. So the only place left he could be is…aha! I turned around and there that pig was, sleeping on the couch in the same clothes he wore last night when he interrupted my studying.

I took an apple from the fruit basket that was also complimentary and threw it at him as hard as I could, aiming for the head of course. Might I add that I was also taking a bite out of my muffin at the same time?

He caught it. Wait, what? He was asleep how could he catch it? He was sleeping like a baby when I threw that apple and his arm just…moved on its own and he caught it before it hit his head? Maybe he was awake. No, he's still probably sleeping his eyes are closed.

"What."

His voice was kind of ruffled. Yep, this guy definitely woke up. But that tone was so rude! I regret waking him up now. I should have just let him sleep in, which is exactly what I'm about to do now. I simply hopped off the chair I was sitting on and walked out of the room to meet up with everyone downstairs.

…

"Mikan!"

"Ruka! Hotaru!"

They were waiting in the lobby and I walked over to them.

"We're sorry we couldn't help more last night." Ruka whispered.

I smiled. "Oh that? Don't worry about it you guys gave great information!" I told Ruka, then looked over to Hotaru. "And we couldn't have figured out who it was without your perception!"

"That'll be five dollars."

Same Hotaru that's for sure.

"Unless you want me to-"

I shoved a five dollar bill in her face. "O-Oh look what I found Hotaru!"

She smiled an evil smile at me and took the money. Narumi texted us that our ride was here and the three of us headed inside the limousine. It was 4:25 and the limo was leaving in 5 minutes. There's no way Natsume could have gotten ready and made it down here in time. We're at a high class hotel he can't just come running down looking the way he did when he woke up. Well, then again, after last night I really shouldn't be talking.

Natsume suddenly slipped into the car right as it was about to drive away. As much as I hate to admit it, this guy is good. The limousine drove us away from the hotel and we went home.

Mission completed.

**~8:30 am~**

"Alright class, here are your exams. I hope you all studied well!" Narumi exclaimed. As usual, the entire class groaned. I scoffed a little, as if you gave me any time to study with that last minute mission you put on my shoulders!

Either way, I've got this test. I did my best to study my ass off last night despite my distractions and the mission. But I was still frustrated after the mission last night. I have had to go off on trips like that right before a test, but never before a midterm. It was tiring. Especially with Hyuuga now that he's sitting behind me. He was just sitting back in his chair with his arms behind his head. Ugh that's right. He told the teacher he was still going to take it so this'll be interesting.

"You all know the rules. No cheating, pencils only, and no calculators. Good luck! You may begin!"

Okay first question…

There was a total of 600 questions on the midterm, 100 for each class that I took. I have to admit I was freaking out a little bit. Some of the questions that weren't the really easy and obvious ones were so much harder than what I had studied. But somehow, I was on question 429 now. I heard some movement behind me and saw Natsume get up and walk past my desk. He gave his test to Narumi, who took it with a smile. Hm, I would have expected him to be slightly reluctant to take it. Natsume returned to his desk behind me with that smug look still on his face. It distracted me for a while, but I returned to my test.

"Hey, Polka."

Ugh is he serious? Poking me with his pencil while whispering my name. Shut up shut up shut up! I'm trying to take a test and he's trying to distract me.

He put a hand on my shoulder. "Hey, Polka."

Ignore him Mikan, he's not worth it. I shrugged my shoulder back to push his hand off. Okay enough distractions, this is just like last night. Don't let him get to you. Question 430 is…?

"Hey, Polka."

Argh that's it! Okay, one little question and don't even listen to his answer just ignore it. "What?" I said through clenched teeth in a small whisper.

"I finished early and I'm bored."

Well, unfortunately, Narumi was our teacher and therefore he didn't really care that we were whispering. He's got good hearing that he learned from training in the agency, so I guess he might be either listening in on our conversation like the sort of bubbly person he is or that he can hear that we're not talking about the midterm and is therefore letting us talk. However, I was hoping he'd tell Natsume to shut up.

"Go bother someone else Hyuuga." How much time do I have left for my test anyways? If this keeps up I'll never finish it on time. Ugh, he's frustrating me! Good, more reasons to find him absolutely vile.

Congratulations to the girl in the class who gets him. I could already see through the corner of my eyes that some were staring at him. Do your tests geez or do you want to fail? Then again, I probably shouldn't care because my future and my future career is set so whether I actually pass or not doesn't matter. Sure I have to avoid failing or getting expelled because if I don't go to Alice Academy then I won't be able to complete my mission. The agency might just pull some strings anyways so I'm more reliant on that. Mostly the reason I'm so determined to do well is…well…it's a pride thing that I've got. It's subtle but fierce.

"Hey, entertain me."

I swear if my classmates weren't in this room with us…! "Entertain yourself." Okay, somehow I managed to make it to question 435, though I'm not so sure my past few answers were correct, since that idiot Hyuuga kept my attention and I wasn't able to focus!

He leaned in and blew some air on the back of my neck.

I shivered a little, which some of my classmates around me noticed so I was a little embarrassed about that. THAT'S IT. Silence. He wants entertainment? He can entertain himself by trying to get my attention. I'm going to completely ignore him, and this time it's definite. I swear I'm going to get him back as soon as I get the chance! I took a deep breath, time for me to be calm. Ever since he got here my level headed and happy side has been faltering lately, and he's made me lose my temper way to many times.

Well not anymore.

* * *

**Next chapter! Test results oooohhh.**

**The ending might sound bad but it's just her resolve to not let Natsume make her lose her temper. Sorry if it seems I'm making Mikan act more angry than her personality really is but she gets angry because Natsume irritates her. I'll fix her, hence, the resolve hahah.**

**Sorry this chapter was really long and boring but don't worry there's more to come!**

**Please review! It motivates me to continue and gives me inspiration (: corny but true!**

**Dedicated to:  
Kylee-Cat  
Melyss  
Animelover  
kawaiichan  
mikanxnatsume  
sajesanime  
mrysmanga  
ChicCuteness  
sapphireangel09  
Nickix  
daa3fan  
Animechicki  
Crystal Rose**


	4. Score: noun or verb?

**I don't own Gakuen Alice…oh but if I did (: BTW all weapons are fake and don't exist. They all wear school uniforms to school.**

**_Ages:_**

_**Natsume: 18  
Mikan: 17  
Hotaru: 17  
Ruka: 18  
Tsubasa: 21  
Misaki: 20  
Aoi: 16  
Youichi: 16  
Sakurano, Subaru, and Tono: 23  
Reo: 25  
Sumire, Mochiage: 18  
Tobita (Inchou): 18  
Kokoro, Luna, Anna, Nonoko, Kitsuneme, Usami: 17**_

**Time Keep:  
Day Three: Wednesday (the day after midterms)**

**Author Note: No star rankings sorry but it would be a very miniscule detail here and **_**Wakako **_**is **_**Usami.**_

* * *

*****AT HEADQUARTERS*****

"Well, you're training awfully hard today." Hotaru said, eating her crab meat in a jar.

We were back in headquarters, which, when we're not on missions, is practically where we go to before school. This time, we were in the training gym instead of the gun range. There were other, and older, men also in the gym with us who were probably twice our age. This was usual for us, since only a very minor percentage of the agency were made up of people our age, and most of them were on the Alice Academy mission like me, Hotaru, Inchou, and now Ruka and Natsume I guess. Due to me and Hotaru's level and rank in the agency, we are technically all these old guys superiors. However, they are much stronger than we are, physically. To put it simply, we see each other as equals despite the major difference.

"What-ugh? I'm just-ugh, training as-ugh, usual." I said through punches. I was training with one of those dummies that looks like a human mannequin but no matter how hard you hit it it'll always bounce back up, like it's standing on a hemisphere.

"Clearly." She said sarcastically, while taking a bite of her crab meat with her spoon. "You're beating that thing up faster than usual. What's the trick?" She dipped her spoon back to get more crab meat.

It's true. Usually it takes about a few months for me to completely wear out a mannequin like this. And I'm already wearing it out in a few hours. Well, leave it to Hotaru to see through my façade like this. No point in trying to pretend like I'm not bothered. It's exactly that kind of character about Hotaru why she's my best friend, I can't hide anything from her.

I smiled. "Heh, if you must-ugh know-ugh. I'm pretending that-ugh, that bastard Hyuuga's face is-ugh on this-ugh mannequin."

She put another spoonful of crab meat in her mouth. "Pretending you're beating up our new teammate?" She finished chewing then swallowed. I could sense an evil smile befall her face. "I'm impressed."

"Thanks-ugh." I stopped punching the mannequin and grabbed the towel next to Hotaru. After wiping my face, I slung it around my shoulders and took a drink of my water bottle. "You're not going to work out?"

"No, I prefer brains over physicality." She took another bite of her crab meat. It was her last one so she threw it out.

"Well, that'll help when you get into a fight." I said sarcastically. "I'm gonna shower, I'll meet you at school."

She silently walked out of the room while I stayed behind to pack my things. In the language of Hotaru, that's an 'okay' so it was normal for me. After I grabbed my things, I left to do what I just said I'd do.

…

I walked into the classroom and looked around for Hotaru, and there she was, sitting at her desk. Since she sits right next to me, I took my seat next to her. I noticed right away that Natsume and Ruka still weren't here. Ruka sits behind Hotaru, and Natsume sits behind me, sadly. Huh, I never really noticed. The four of us sat together in sort of like a square. I wonder if Narumi and Jinno had it set up that way on purpose or if it was just coincidence. Then I looked over at Inchou. I guess I sort of feel bad for him, that he sits on the other side of the room and the four of us are together. Maybe he should switch seats? Then, an idea came to my head. What if he could switch seats with Hyuuga! That'd be perfect!

"Morning Mikan! Morning Hotaru!"

Both of us turned around. "Morning Anna! Morning Nonoko!" We said in unison.

"How'd you both do on your exams?" Anna asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked. "Are they already graded?" I said a little louder, in disbelief.

"That was fast." Hotaru casually commented. From the monotone way she said it, anyone else wouldn't be able to tell that she was in our conversation.

"Yeah!" Nonoko exclaimed. "Though, I didn't do as good as I had hoped."

I smiled. "Don't worry! I'm sure you'll get it next time!" I encouraged.

"Or maybe not."

"H-Hotaru…" The three of us said.

The bell rang. "Alright everyone! Please take your seats!" Narumi walked in and everyone shuffled into their seats. He stood at the front and center of the room and began to take attendance. "Huh? Where's Natsume and Ruka?"

Geez like we'd know. What's he asking the class for? I put my hand over my mouth and rested my elbow on the table. Like anyone here cares about where they are. You're way too bubbly Narumi.

Just then, the door flew open and Ruka ran in. Everyone, including me, looked at him. His clothes were loose and not completely put together.

"S-Sorry! I woke up late and-"

"It's fine. Just take your seat." He said it with a smile.

Ruka thanked him and walked over to sit behind Hotaru. I was tempted to ask him where he was, but I decided not to. When he sat down, he began fixing his uniform.

"Alright, our first chapter after midterms will be-"

What? _Another_ interruption? The door slid open. It was slow and dramatic, in an almost careless way. My heart dropped when I saw who opened it. Natsume walked in with his hair all in a mess, I could tell it was a natural bedhead however it looked done up. He had his hands in his pocket as he entered; he didn't even bother to close the door. His clothes were messed up like Ruka's; tie loosely put together, shirt half unbuttoned and half tucked into his sagging pants. Except his look was different, it didn't look like he rushed it looked more like he dressed that way _on purpose_. That idiot.

"Hey you finally made it!" Narumi cheered. Yes, he was definitely bubbly.

"Hn."

That's all he said and he walked past Narumi and headed towards his seat. I looked around and noticed all the girls were staring at him again and all the guys looked like they were idolizing him or something. He just walked in like it was nothing. I bet he thinks he's some cool badass trying to make an entrance to flaunt himself around. Ugh, does this guy ever stop himself?

Natsume carelessly took his seat. Well, actually he pushed the chair back and put both of his feet on top of the desk with his hands still in his pocket. I could feel everyone, even all the guys staring at him like he was the God of Cool or something. I rolled my eyes. The only thing he was the God of was making a scene. What made me a little uncomfortable was that since I was sitting right in front of him, and didn't' even bother to follow everyone else and look at Hyuuga, my whole class' eyes were on me, trying to get past me so they could stare at him. I sighed and put my head on my hand, resting my elbow on the desk. Narumi turned around and ignored Natsume's attitude. I guessed that Narumi believed Natsume was tired from the mission last night and just let him be.

I ignored the rest of my irrelevant thoughts and continued to focus on Narumi's lecture.

…

"That's the bell, class." Ms. Serina announced at the end of class. "If you wish to see your test scores they are posted on the wall in the courtyard. Have a nice evening." With that she picked up her books and left the classroom, and the rest of the class began standing up and cleaning up their work.

I closed my notebook and walked to get my bag, bringing it back to my desk to start packing. Hotaru was already done packing, and walked over to me. I took a while to pack so she waited for me as everyone else in the class left. When I was finally done, Hotaru and I were the last ones out of the room and we headed towards the courtyard.

"I'm so excited Hotaru!" I shouted excitedly as we made our way through the hall. "Since midterms are over that means the School Festival is coming up!"

Alice Academy held an annual school festival every year one week after midterm. During that entire week before the festival's opening day were spent entirely on creating the festival. It was open to outsiders that didn't go to this school too because the festival was also another way to promote the school for prospective students and parents. The festival lasts three days; the first two days are the actual festival with booths and such sort of like a carnival, and the third day is the Alive Festival Dance. At the dance there is a myth that whoever you dance with during the Last Dance, you two will become soulmates. The past years I've been at Alice Academy I've never danced with anyone during the Last Dance. Either because I missed it, I didn't want to, or the more often recurring choice: that Narumi and Jinno always had missions scheduled on that day, not that I ever minded.

"What will you do?" Hotaru asked.

"Well…" I was about to give her my idea in full detail but there was a huge commotion in the courtyard.

What was weird about it was that the commotion was nowhere near the test scores, it was by the benches. There was a huge group of girls gathered so close together like a female herd. Maybe a sign for a cute dress they're auctioning off for the festival? The thought intrigued me, but I was too eager to see my grades. Hotaru and I passed the group of girls who were squealing and gossiping from what I could hear. We stopped in front of the bulletin board and I took a deep breath before opening my eyes to glance at the scores.

UNBELIEVABLE. I blinked, looked away, and then looked back over to make sure my eyes weren't deceiving me.

_1. Natsume Hyuuga-101%  
2. T__obita Yuu-100%  
3. Hotaru Imai-99%_

12. Ruka Nogi-90%

15. Luna Koizumi-89%  
16. Mikan Sakura-87%

_19. Anna Umenomiya-82%  
20. Nonoko Ogasawara-82%_

25. Kitsuneme-79%  
26. Usami Wakako-79%  
27. Kokoro Yome-76%

Sadly, the ranks were out of only 30 because scores were based on our homeroom classes, and there were only thirty people in mine. This list made me so mad. First of all, Hyuuga got a one hundred AND ONE percent. Where the hell did the extra one come from? I was hoping he'd fail and I could sing "I told you so" and rub it in his face but he said he'd pass…and boy did he pass. Also that I actually studied my hardest and I only got an eighty seven percent?

"Congrats Hotaru!" I turned around and smiled.

"I sucked." She said blandly.

Same Hotaru, always aiming for a one hundred percent and never settling for anything less. The commotion coming from the mass of girls grew louder suddenly and it caught my attention this time. Now they were all facing one direction and I followed their gazes and turned my body to that direction.

I couldn't see anything in particular that jumped out or screamed at me because stupid Natsume and Ruka were walking together and getting in my way. Could they move so I could see what the big deal was? They were entering the courtyard, coming to see the test scores I presume. No way-could it be-? I shook my head, there's no way all those girls were watching those two I mean, they're not _that_ attractive. Especially Natsume's personality, I'd even be willing to bet they were all staring at Ruka; I know some girls in the class have had a crush on him for a while.

Both of them got closer to the bulletin, and closer to me and Hotaru since we were still standing in front of it. I watched the eyes of the group of girls and they were strictly following them, verifying my guess. Hotaru and I stepped aside and watched them look at the bulletins.

"Polka." Hyuuga nonchalantly greeted me, which sounded more like an uninterested comment, before looking at the board.

"Let's go Hotaru." I grabbed her arm and tried to drag her away, but her feet were practically glued to the floor. I pulled and pulled, but she wouldn't budge.

"Come on Hotaru!" I groaned.

"No." She had that blank, yet mischievous expression on her face. "Something interesting is about to happen."

"What kind of comment is that?" I shouted.

I heard a chuckle. And it wasn't a happy, i-just-saw-something-cute-and-it-was-funny kind of chuckle. It was low…and evil like. It sounded teasing too. Ah shit. Reluctantly, I turned around and saw his cocky shoulders quickly rising up and down. Not only that, I saw crimson eyes trying to bore under my skin and tick me off. And trust me, it worked.

I pointed my finger right in front of his face and gave him a deathly glare. "Not. One. Word." I demanded.

"Fine, how about two. I, win." He shot back with a smirk.

"Ugh could you be more smug?" I said, disgusted.

"Absolutely!" He intensified his smirk, if that was even possible.

"Son of a bitch." I said through gritted teeth. "Well I guess you can't be a son of a bitch if you're a girl." I smiled.

"Sassy." He taunted. "But since you're into me then doesn't that make you lesbian?"

Now it was a full on fight between me and Hyuuga. Ruka had stepped aside next to Hotaru and they stood by and watched us bicker. Not to mention the girl army trying to listen in on our conversation but was to no avail and failed altogether.

"You're unbelievable. You can't honestly think I have some sort of _thing_ for you." My face was burning with anger. The nerve of him!

"Well why not?" He leaned his head over my shoulder and whispered in my ear. "We're great _partners_." He emphasized. I knew he was talking about our mission but I wasn't dumb enough to not know he was talking about 'partners' in the other sense.

I took a huge step back and slapped him in the face, and I'm pretty sure no one saw. "You know Hyuuga, I've got a bag full of fucks and I'm not giving any out." I shot at him and then grabbed Hotaru's arm so we could walk back out of the academy and head home.

At first I thought about heading towards the commotion to see what it was about, but their eyes were watching me the entire time. At least I assumed they were looking at me because like hell they were gawking at Hyuuga, there's no way anyone would fall for his little show. Well, I'd be fine if they were staring at Ruka, so I'll settle for that. I assumed the group of girls were waiting for me and Hotaru to leave because as soon as we were a fair distance away from the board, where Hyuuga and Ruka were staring at us in disbelief, they all ran like a herd to surround them.

Like I said, I'm not giving anything out of my precious bag.

…

That night, in the middle of doing homework in my dorm room, there was a knock on the door.

"It's open!" I shouted, laying on my stomach with my pencil in my mouth, trying to figure out how to do this math homework. Hotaru was sitting on my little couch and was silently watching TV. Her dorm was right next door and she often came into my room for some reason.

My room had the regular one bed, shared bathroom (mine happened to be shared with Hotaru), one closet, one desk, and extra space for whatever I wanted to put there, which just so happened to be a couch and TV. Sounds big right? Well yeah, it actually is, compared to other schools but this boarding school was different. Well, the residence halls were well about a few miles away from the actual school building, so it was pretty safe from the teachers, except for one that lived in the building and was our dorm advisor. There were only two buildings, one for girls and one for boys. One problem with the placement of the buildings was that they were built _very_ close to one another, so a boy could easily sneak into the girls' dorm and vice versa.

The teacher who looked over the boys' dorm was Makihara and the teacher who looked over the girls' dorm was Serina. Sadly, Makihara and Serina both don't know about the spy organization Hotaru and I work for, so sneaking out of our dorms to go on missions is made a lot harder than it should be. Not that it's a problem for us, nor will it ever be. Curfew is ten at night sharp and we can't leave the rooms until six in the morning.

The door opened and in walked Anna and Nonoko. I looked at the clock, they had about twenty minutes til curfew.

"Hey!" They greeted us.

"Anna! Nonoko!" I greeted back, taking a short glance away from my homework.

"What's going on?" Hotaru asked in her monotone voice, not taking her own short glance away from the TV.

The two of them sat together on the open space of my bed and made themselves at home. "You mean you didn't hear?" Anna popped up with her perky self.

"No I guess not." I replied. "Did something happen?"

Nonoko popped up now. "You know that meeting all the girls had by the bulletin?" I nodded. "Well it seems everyone fancies the new kid and Ruka. They created a fan club and declared him open to anyone."

I choked on my own spit. How? I was laughing _way_ too much. The girls in the class had to create some sort of government or laws or whatever, debating on who gets him or not. It's _Natsume Hyuuga_ the lowest, most masochistic and evil demon in the form of an eighteen year old boy. I need to get them all X-ray glasses so they can see right through his 'charming' façade and hot physique because it seemed obvious that I was the only one who could. Maybe Hotaru, but she's always emotionless and no way in hell she would like him. DING! Another reason she's my best friend, she's also the only girl in this school with moral values and a brain that works right.

I don't find him attractive at all.

Besides, either Luna or Wakako would get him. Now, I might be a secret agent but I'm still a teenager who's been in this school for as long as I can remember and even though I try to avoid it I still know about the social structure of my classmates.

I was cracking up to such an extent I managed to get Hotaru's attention as she looked away from the TV to see what I was laughing about.

"Interested?" Anna asked with a cunning grin on her face. Really? After all that laughing? Amazing.

"As if." I replied. "He's insanely atrocious, rude, egotistical, he throws himself around for the girls, and he thinks he's so hot that anything he touches will burst in to flames or something."

"Sounds like you like him." Nonoko commented with that same cunning grin.

I was thrown off. "What? How in the world could _that _sound like me liking that pig?"

"Everyone always says you're mean to the person you have a crush on." Hotaru stated casually, now reading a book.

"So I guess you have a crush on everyone in the universe?" I told her.

She looked over and just smiled at me.

"Well we just dropped by to see if you guys wanted to join the Natsume-Ruka fan club." Anna stated, back to her chipper self. "You two were the only girls who we haven't asked to join yet. Well, in our homeroom that is."

"Well did you guys?" I asked them.

They shook their heads. "We're not stupid, we know that Luna or Wakako will get them, they didn't even have to join the fan club."

Another reason why these two are my other friends. They aren't airheaded girls and they were very reasonable. I could tell that even though they didn't want to join the club, they wanted to ask around for people who would. That's what they always did, helped people no matter what they thought. They were good friends to have around.

"Well curfew's soon, we'd better get going." Nonoko said. "Night!" Anna said and the two of them left my room.

I finished my homework a few minutes after they left and Hotaru said goodbye and walked through our connected bathroom to get to her room. The school was pretty loose about lights out. They didn't care how late we stayed up as long as we didn't leave our rooms. Jinno once told us it was because they felt that taking care of our sleep schedules was completely up to us and we had to gain that skill with independence or something like that. I figured that the teachers figured we'd stay up anyways so we shouldn't make it against the rules.

I got a text right before I was going to climb into bed.

_Come to HQ tomorrow morning before school.  
Urgent mission.  
-Jinno_

Another mission? Usually Hotaru and I got about a week or two as a break before our next mission. I looked at my clock. It was about thirty minutes after ten, so I should get to bed soon. When Hotaru and I had to go to headquarters before school we would sneak out of the dorm building through our window. I always wondered, should they tighten security if we were able to sneak out so easily? Or maybe it was because we were trained so we could do it no problem.

I wanted to go to bed however, I wasn't tired in the least bit and laying in my bed trying to fall asleep really wouldn't do anything more than just waste my time. So I decided to sit on my couch and read the magazines I was given to see what was going on in the world and hopefully give myself a hint as to what the mission could be about. I only turned on one lamp so it wasn't obvious to the hall monitors (which by the way are robots, oddly enough) that I was still up, so the room was pretty dim.

Nothing really special, so I decided to think about my life and gather my thoughts. Hopefully that would make me tired. Let's see, what is there to think about. The Alice Festival that's coming up soon I guess. Oh yeah! I need to think about what to do! Each homeroom class had the job of coming up with a cultural or school spirit stand, building the stand, and then running it during the three open days of the festival. Whatever the homerooms decide has to be original and can't be the same idea as another room.

The rest of this week and the beginning of next week was all about planning and designing the stands. People usually gave up the weekend to help with preparations. The first day the festival opens is next Thursday and then Friday. Technically, the festival was open on Saturday too but it usually ends early so that everyone can get ready for the Last Dance. The dance on the last day of the Alice Festival was opened to students only, as a way of celebrating our success and letting loose.

Let's see, what should I do? Maybe we could have a baking stand. But that was pretty common. Maybe a-

KNOCK. KNOCK.

Holy crap! Something's knocking on my window! I considered screaming, or hiding, or maybe even playing dead. The hell, nothing's going to happen. Hotaru's next door, and not to mention every girl student is also in the building. I'm a super spy for crying out loud! But, usually it's _me_ who's the one going after or looking for someone, and not the other way around. Maybe that's what's got me all jumpy?

Well either way I decided to stand up from my couch and walk over to my window, carrying the magazine with me. It was dark outside, minus the shining moon. It's nearly eleven, who would come to me at this hour? Oh yeah, murderers. I walked closer and closer to the window and as soon as I was able to see the silhouette of a man standing outside my window I stopped walking towards it.

He opened my window and jumped inside my room in one swift and evasive motion.

I clenched my magazine tighter and into a bat.

I gritted my teeth as he stood up and brushed himself off.

"HYUUGA!" I shouted so loudly but quiet enough no one else woke up. I ran over to him and hit him in the stomach like his inner intestines were a baseball and my magazine was a bat.

I crossed my arms and looked at my beautiful artwork. Natsume Hyuuga made a loud grunting noise and fell halfway to his knees, placing one fist on the floor to stop himself from completely kneeling down and wrapping the forearm of his other arm around his stomach, coughing a little bit.

"Polka…" He warned me.

"What the hell do you think you're doing you _pervert_!" I raised my magazine up, ready to hit him again but this time when I swung it down he caught it with the hand that used to be around his stomach. In another swift movement he stood up and threw my magazine out of my hand, giving me a slight papercut.

"Geez you crazy woman." He commented.

I grabbed my hand and tended to it for a slight few seconds and backed away from him. "Says the one sneaking into the girls' dormitory an hour after curfew." After anger, I joked again. "Oh wait that's right, you're a _girl_ aren't you? Well welcome home."

He completely walked past me and went towards my couch, leaning on the back of it. I closed the window and stayed in my original spot and kept my arms crossed, watching him closely. I contemplated retrieving my magazine, but I decided not to. He was, physically, stronger than me, and getting into a fight with him was just a waste of energy and time. Well, a physical fight that is.

"So are you gonna tell me whatsup or not?" I ushered him.

He stopped leaning on the couch and strolled over to my bookshelf with his hands in his pockets. "Got a text from Jinno, he's briefing us on a mission tomorrow morning." He picked out one of my books and read the back of it. He scoffed. "Ew, you actually read this sappy romance crap?"

I quickly walked over, placed the magazine on my couch, and snatched the book away from his evil grasp. "'The Last Song' is _not_ crap!" He raised an eyebrow at me and then picked out another book from my bookshelf.

"'Romeo and Juliet'?" He commented with a skeptical look.

I immediately grabbed it from out of his hand. "Stop going through my stuff!" I put the two books back where they belonged and rubbed my fingers on my forehead. "So the mission?" I massaged my head.

"Yeah what about it?" He replied coolly and plopped down right onto my couch, kicking the magazine off.

Why is he just walking around everywhere in my dorm room? He shouldn't even be here! It's really annoying! "Wha…wha…you…just…!" I was completely astonished at his arrogantly blasé attitude. "_You're _the one who brought it up you moron!"

All he did was chuckle.

I don't know why but I walked over and sat next to him, as far away as possible of course. "Honestly Hyuuga, what are you doing here." I made it sound like a get-out-you're-annoying demand and leaned to my side to lay my head on the couch pillow. I was tired. "No no, don't touch me." I kicked him away with my feet when he tried to lean over and lay his head on my shoulder.

After his second attempt to lean on me I stood up from the couch. I walked over to the window. "Just leave…" I groaned and motioned him to the window so he could exit the way he came in. "I need to sleep for tomorrow and there's no reason for you to stay. So, _go_."

He moved quickly while I tried to soothe my migraine. The moment I felt the presence of a body a mere foot away from mine, I made it my mission to back away as far as I could. The body had me pinning myself against the wall, with no means of escape due to two iron arms that caged me. My first reaction was to punch him where it hurts, but he was too close I couldn't fit my fist in to do the job effectively.

"That's where you're wrong." He smirked.

Before I could comment in rage on his close proximity, he took a casual step back and put his hands in his pocket. Finally, the air didn't seem so hot around me anymore and I could _breathe_. Gosh darn why wasn't I born with gills? I could swim around a glass tank with no Hyuuga's around to bother me.

"I already know about the mission." His expression shifted to a more serious façade, and I couldn't tell whether he meant it or not. "Came here to warn you."

I raised an eyebrow at this non-Hyuuga attitude. I mean come on, when was this guy serious about _anything_. Much less warning me about something like protecting or whatever. Crazy messed up kid.

"Warn me about what?" I asked skeptically, and crossed my arms. He leaned back over me and placed one hand on the open wall beside my head, keeping his other one in his pocket. By the way he gave me a smoldering look, my prosecutions were correct. I _knew_ there was no way he was being legit about anything!

"We leave tomorrow to uncover some information on this school and the administration before anyone else can reach it. Because of it's high confidentiality, _we_ are the only two going." He leaned his face in closer, until the inch of space between our faces was all I had left to protect me from this molester. "Don't be caught off guard when someone tries to make a move on you."

He placed a soft but seductive kiss on my cheek.

Molester.

That was the first thing that popped into my head, but it left me wondering and, dare I say, _wanting _for _something_ that I couldn't wrap my head around, and it pissed me off. He _did not_ do what I think he did, because that would be crossing the many lines I have strategically placed before him as boundaries where if crossed, he would be in dangerous territory. I didn't know whether to feel angry, annoyed, or somehow calm and lenient.

"Later Polka."

My eyes, unbeknownst to my conscious, followed him as he jumped out of my window, and it took me until he left to snap out of it and react the way I should have. I ran to the window and leaned over the edge.

"HYUUGA!"

* * *

**Sorry for the long waiting for update! I've gotten really busy lately, even though it's summer (hehehe :P)**

**Thank you for bearing with me I appreciate it && please R E V I E W!**

**It keeps the spies undercover.**

**DEDICATED TO:**

**Daa3fan  
karano-nanami  
katpin  
animeloverfershurexD  
sapphireangel09  
princessangel123  
Orange Cat Thief  
.xXx  
Stelladiep**


	5. Alice Festival: Day 1 & Day 2 part one

**I don't own Gakuen Alice…oh but if I did (: BTW all weapons are fake and don't exist. They all wear school uniforms to school.**

_**Ages:**_  
**_Natsume: 18  
Mikan: 17  
Hotaru: 17  
Ruka: 18  
Tsubasa: 21  
Misaki: 20  
Aoi: 16  
Youichi: 16  
Sakurano, Subaru, and Tono: 23  
Reo: 25  
Sumire, Mochiage: 18  
Tobita (Inchou): 18  
Kokoro, Luna, Anna, Nonoko, Kitsuneme, Usami: 17_**

**Time Keep: (One week after) Wednesday, Thursday, Friday**

**Author Note: First President is the essential counterpart of the Elementary School Principal**

**Dedications:  
sapphireangel09  
clueless624  
Keyheart  
Kylee-Cat  
Ruby Romance  
Devine Inspiration  
Eclipse du Coeur  
Syao Blossom  
Anaile1012  
.xXx**

* * *

_*****One Week Later*****_

The urgent mission went by without a hitch.

I never really did get to figure out what Natsume meant by his warning, but I _did_ notice a loud, disappointed groan coming from said crimson eyed teenager when Jinno informed us that the two of us would be separated during the entire mission to cover more ground. I, on the other hand, threw myself a congratulatory party inside my head and did a little happy dance.

As for the intelligence we were required to retrieve, I never found anything about that either. We were to infiltrate Alice Academy's main office building located in the farthest region possible of school grounds. It was rather isolated and highly guarded, but we obviously had no trouble breaking in. Much to my disappointment, Natsume found the folder containing the information before I did. Whether he took a peek inside or not still remained undetermined.

I understood why the mission was so confidential, it was the main freaking office building. That's where all the important documents are kept and where the higher ups of the academy lived. If there were too many people trying to get in, or too many of us students out of our dorms after curfew, the risk of getting caught would have definitely been increased. While we were on our mission, Hotaru and Ruka were being told in full everything the two of us were told, if not more. Hey, I hate to admit it, but I'm not too good with my brains so I gladly give all rights to information to my best friend.

Anyways, all students involved in the Alice Academy case were given a one week leave so we could focus on the Alice Festival. However, our duties would immediately resume as soon as the Last Dance ended. I was so excited for one week of freedom! I mean I actually have a whole entire week plus a few days to live without having to disappear all of a sudden to go on secret jobs. A whole entire week to focus completely on my social and school life. A whole entire week to be an _actual_ teenager.

So you can imagine my excitement, since the Alice Festival has its grand opening tomorrow.

And an even great excitement when the First President made a surprise announcement the famous singer Reo Mouri was performing a concert on day two of the festival.

Our homeroom class decided to do a haunted maze. It wasn't very cultural, nor did it have any school spirit in the attraction, but it was a sort of entertainment and with Narumi as our advisor, there was no doubt he would agree to it. We spent everyday after school building the maze, making costumes, and coming up with ideas on how to scare people or what prizes they would receive at the end if they managed to find the exit.

We were all dressed up in different Halloween costumes and positioned throughout the maze. I had on a genie costume, which wasn't too scary but I wasn't part of the actual maze. My classmates all agreed I couldn't even scare a fly (can you believe that? Honestly, if they ever saw me with a gun, I swear) so I was put on the outside to either collect the money or award the winners with their prizes. That's completely fine with me, I'd rather be dressed up as a cute genie than wearing a scary witch costume.

That's what Hotaru was wearing, a witch costume. The costume itself wasn't very frightening, but if it's Hotaru who's wearing it…you can imagine the fear one would have when seeing her in it. She had the same job as me, but knowing her, she'd completely take over the collecting money part so I'd be left with the awarding part.

If you're wondering about what the others were wearing, I had no idea. To make things more fun, everyone in our homeroom decided we wouldn't show our costumes to each other until the day of. The only people, as far as I know, who knew whom everyone was going to be was Inchou, Anna, and Nonoko. They were the main organizers of our attraction, so I could understand they needed to know whom everyone was going to be so they could set up who was going to be stationed where and how they were going to be scaring people. The only reason I knew what Hotaru was going to be, was because I happened to stumble on her trying it on in our shared bathroom, glorious cape and hat and all that.

If you're wanting an update on the social status of my classmates, here you go.

I've been the same, for the most part. Talking and hanging around the same people I have been since the beginning of the school year. As for Hyuuga, that's a different story. Him and Ruka's fan club have been stalking them like crazy, trying to bless their eyes with even the slightest glimpse of them. Oh how I envied their position in not being able to see Natsume at least once a day. They giggled to themselves and dared themselves to try and talk to one of them. I didn't get what's got them so worked up about them, I mean for one thing Ruka's a really nice guy, just go up and say hi you wussies! As for Natsume, I understand their fear because he's so antisocial, at least I think he is. Honestly, all they had to do was go up and say hi or something.

Of course, there were two exceptions to the fan club rule, which now that I think about it, wasn't even a rule. It was the girl code, you don't take your friend's crush. I don't know why, you just don't. Well I'm sure it's obvious who the exceptions are, but just for laughs it's Luna and Wakako. They've unconsciously and effortlessly claimed the two of them as theirs, and whether said boys knew this or not was completely beyond me.

They were the only two who were able to stand in uncharted territory and have actual conversations with the two. It was like some sort of exclusive club only the two of them were members of. At least, that's how it was during school because in headquarters, we unfortunately talked to them all the time regarding missions and jokes and such. For my personal decision, I never said a word to Natsume during class or even during the Alice Festival preparations, only Ruka, _he_ was the one who talked to everyone.

Luna and Wakako swiftly flirted with them, turning on their girly charms at full blast. Of course, Luna to Natsume and Wakako to Ruka. This had been going on all week, and one could say that they even had some sort of thing with the two favored boys of the class.

And then there was Sumire.

She's eighteen, the same age as Natsume and Ruka. She doesn't go to Alice Academy, for reasons I also had no knowledge of. She works at headquarters, retrieving data on any enemies or any information about the academy. In a sense, she is on the mission, but more behind the scenes. She's got a great sense of hearing and smell, so sometimes she goes out to do field work. Ever since she saw Hyuuga walking around headquarters after working out or just because he wanted to walk around, she's had some sort of an infatuation with him. She's perfectly fit to be the president of the Natsume-Ruka fan club, but in the agency it's a party of one; so yeah, I guess she is the president.

To make things short: Luna is after Natsume in the academy and Sumire is after Natsume in the spy world.

In a predator-prey sense, I suppose.

Ruka's too outgoing to be sought after just one person, so he practically belonged to the entire class.

Let's not forget Mochiage, eighteen. He's become something of a follower to Natsume. It was amazing, in such a short amount of time, the new kid immediately reached above the top of the social pyramid. Everyone in every grade knew about him, and his growing reputation. It was to a point if you asked someone if they knew Natsume Hyuuga and they said no, it was like social suicide.

But enough about that, it's way too much excitement for one week. Let's just think about tomorrow.

_*****The Next Day*****_

"Welcome to the Alice Festival!"

The First President cut the rope at the entrance gate, and everyone cheered.

Families, prospective students, kids from other schools, you name it; _everyone_ came to the festival. There were so many food stands, game stands, and rides I felt like I was at a carnival! The atmosphere throughout the school grounds never felt more comfortable and happy. It was a shame we had a mission that consisted of some sort of dark part unseen by the outside world of the academy. It was actually an even more shame such a pleasant school had such a dark secret.

To make things better, our maze didn't open until the sun began to set. However, so it was fair to all those who had to work throughout the whole day, we had to spend every minute before the haunted maze opened to prepare for it.

"Hotaru!" I smiled and waved as I ran towards my best friend.

Sure enough, she was a witch, donning a knee length, long sleeved, black robe and a pointy hat. She was standing around our other friends Anna, Nonoko, Inchou, Kokoro, and Kitsuneme.

"I see your belly button!" Kokoro shouted and pointed at me.

I looked down at my bare midriff as I caught up to them. "And _why_ is it we can see your belly button?" Hotaru asked me monotone.

I smiled happily and did a twirl. "It's a genie costume!" As if it wasn't obvious.

"And it looks _really_ good on you!" Nonoko complimented.

"Thanks!" I said. "And what are you guys?"

"I'm a mad scientist!" She said, and twirled the same way I did.

"I'm a butcher!" Anna introduced herself and her apron covered in fake blood along with the plastic knife in her hand.

"I'm a zombie!" Kokoro said, showing me the drawn stitches on his face and the dirty ripped up clothing he wore.

"I'm a monster!" Kitsuneme put on a scary mask he made himself along with his black cloak. I have to admit, the mask was _definitely_ creepy.

Hotaru pointed to herself. "Professor." She deadpanned.

"Y-You mean witch, right?"

"No. Professor."

All of us laughed hysterically, including a smile from Hotaru. We were all too nice and friendly to be the scaring kind, I wonder how we were going to pull this off.

We were called over by other in our class to help put away some boxes with props inside the maze. We immediately responded and went over to help. Some of the stuff in the boxes really creeped me out, and I closed them before I moved them whether or not I was supposed to close them. There was this one box I was having trouble with, where not even all the strength training I've undergone had any help with the matter. I grunted and groaned, but I could only lift it about a foot of the floor before I had to put it back down.

"Need some help?"

Before I could put it back down on the floor another set of hands reached underneath the box and helped me lift it up higher, so I was able to stand up now. The first thing I noticed was a werewolf costume and I immediately knew who it was.

"Ruka!" I exclaimed with relief. Him and his animals. "Thanks for the help."

He smiled at me. "No problem." Then he looked down at my outfit. "What are you supposed to be?"

I frowned slightly. Was it really not obvious? "I'm a genie of course!"

He chuckled slightly. "That's not very terrifying."

"Well I'm not trying to scare them! I'm supposed to nicely greet them." I defended myself for my costume.

"As if a prissy like you could scare anyone."

My mood quickly changed and I snapped my head at him. "Hyuuga." I said with disgust. Ruka and I set down the box as he approached us, and when he came closer I got a better glimpse at his costume. I raised an eyebrow. "Are you supposed to be a pirate or something?" I put my hands on my hips after clapping my hands to clean them.

"Ninja, _obviously_." He said sarcastically. He walked over to me and put his arm heavily around my shoulders. "So, when do I get my three wishes?" He smirked.

I scoffed and took his hand off my shoulder. "You're retarded." I swiftly stated.

He ignored me. "For my first wish, I'd like to see _you_ in a super short dress walking around on a leash as my personal maid and satisfying me with occasional sexual pleasure."

I started walking away. "Stop talking to me!" I grunted. Poor Ruka just stood there and watched us. And what's with that coy smile on his face? This isn't amusing!

"For my second wish I'd like a whole year worth of manga about a handsome guy who seduces all the girls because of his kickass charm and undeniable physical qualities not to mention he's a James Bond super spy." He continued, and started following me.

"UGH!" I groaned to myself, trying to rub the irritation out of my brain as I massaged my temples with my fingers.

"And for my third wish…I would like a pony."

He smirked in a way that told me he was clearly messing with me. Ruka began walking behind Natsume who was walking behind me as we made our way out of the maze to pick up the rest of the boxes.

"Why are you following me?" I shouted to him.

"Why are _you_ walking ahead of me?" He responded swiftly.

I groaned the loudest groan I could muster as we finally exited the maze. "Get lost Hyuuga!" This was _my_ week off. _My_ week to enjoy life as a casual and happy teenager. This bastard was _not_ going to ruin it for me. He was the _last_ person I wanted to talk to. Oh yes, I put emphasis on at least one word per sentence, _that's_ how annoyed I am.

"Natsume!"

I've never heard a sweeter sound in my life.

It was Luna's voice, calling to the annoying molester. I saw from the corner of my eye he stopped walking, put his hands in his pockets, and let Koizumi run right up to him. This gave me my chance to keep walking ahead as he was left behind to deal with his 'unofficial girlfriend.' I left them about a hundred feet behind me as I continued walking around the outside of the maze by myself to give myself some alone time as I contemplated our attraction of the festival.

I made my way back to helping the others with the boxes, and out of curiosity I watched as the two of them talked with each other, obviously flirting. Natsume donning his pirate costume, and Luna in her…well…bunny costume. What the hell? She's somewhere _inside_ the maze! Wear a _scary_ costume for crying out loud. The nerve of the school slut, honestly.

I didn't talk to either of the two boys for the rest of the day. The haunted maze had its grand opening, and it was a complete success! We had two levels of scare, and the customers could choose which one they wanted. They would walk through the maze trying to find the exit and if they ever made a wrong turn or end up in a dead end, they would be punished with some sort of terrifying event and then they had to try and keep finding the right way through the maze. If they suffered no events at all, that means they found the right ways to turn and maneuver through it without hitching or hitting some sort of bump in the road.

I had gotten a lot of compliments from a lot of people. They told me I was a very beautiful and convincing genie, and some even gave me three wishes to which I pretended to grant them. It was fun playing pretend!

And so, the Alice Festival closed for the end of its first day.

However, I wasn't quite done yet.

The situation with the box and need Ruka's help sort of bruised my ego a little bit, and I decided to head down back to headquarters after hours. I asked Hotaru if she wanted to come with, but she said she wanted to do some off hour studying and she didn't want to be bothered with work. Ruka said he was helping the others pack up and clean the haunted maze for the night, so he was also busy. Inchou also had to stay behind and organize for round two of the Alice Festival.

I was hesitant, but I made the call.

Natsume should have been my first choice, because I knew there was no way he'd be studying nor would he be helping our homeroom for anything optional, but my obvious emotions about the guy made him my last resort.

A few shouts, annoying jokes, and sarcastic comments later he agreed to meet me there.

I forced him to be my sparring partner, and so we fought each other, but I was taking it seriously.

"You're getting tired, push harder!" I demanded as I tried to thrust a punch his way.

He avoided my punch to his head. "I'm trying to go easy on you!"

"I already said I _don't_ need a handicap from you!" I dodged a punch he tried aiming towards my stomach.

He started laughing as he dodged another one of my violent punches. "I can't _seriously_ fight a girl, much less my own partner in crime."

I can't stand him! I'm doing this so I can get _stronger_ and he's trying to deny me my right to advance and become a better agent. I knew I should have waited until Ruka or Hotaru was available to help me train. Ruka would have fought against me for real and Hotaru would have instructed me on technique. But this piece of shit is simply just letting me wail my limbs around trying to put a bruise on him and he's saying he isn't trying _seriously_?

I threw my anger at him. I put a foot behind his ankle and tripped him backwards then used a hand to grab his neck and pin him to the ground.

Mikan: 1  
Natsume: 0

"Fight me Hyuuga! Try, to _kill_ me!" I said through gritted teeth.

There's no point in training if it's not practicing as if I'm in a real life situation. I know this is just sparring, but I mean business. The next time I get into a physical fight with a man he's not going to fight back half-assed just because I'm a woman.

He smirked, and a chill ran down my spine.

"You asked for it."

In a single movement he managed to get me off his neck, get back on his feet, and land his rock hard fist somewhere into my stomach hard enough to throw me back on my butt a few feet away from him.

Mikan: 1  
Natsume: 1827659340383491590

I coughed, losing air in my lungs for a second and trying to keep some blood in my body. Damnit! I should have been able to block that! I know I should give myself some credit that I managed to fight this long considering the gender difference and that he _was_ technically stronger than me because he's a guy, but I see him as my equal and it bruised not only my stomach but my ego as well.

"It's almost eleven, haven't you had enough?" He came over to me and tried to offer me a hand, to which I slapped it away.

"Just leave me alone Hyuuga." I complained, and got back up on my feet.

He frowned. "Aw, can't you ever be nice?"

"No, nice is boring." I shot back.

He followed me outside of the sparring gym and we entered the resting lounge outside of it. There, we helped ourselves to a cup of water and a towel to wipe our sweat. I felt a little disappointed in myself, how was I able to let this guy beat me over and over again?

There was saving the First President from Mihara, then acing midterms, finding the folder during our last mission before I did, and now bringing me down on the ground with one punch.

He's my sworn enemy, from this day forward. At least in the sense of friendly competition.

"Can I ask you a question?" He suddenly spoke, breaking the comfortable silence.

"Only if I can ignore it." I replied, taking a sip of water.

He smiled at my response and brought the water bottle to his lips. "Nevermind then."

I brushed his inquiry off and began to wander around the training facility at headquarters, continuously drinking from my water bottle. I turned each of the lights off everytime I passed the light switch, indirectly forcing Natsume to follow me back out which would force him to leave headquarters and thus would force him to hit the hay and sleep for the night. I guess this was my motherly instinct, or my bossy side. If I was going back to the dorms, I wanted him to go back and sleep too. Competitive again, I like that about me.

We were the only two throughout the training facility. It was the only part of headquarters that actually had a closing time, but using it after hours never hurt anyone. Headquarters operated 24/7 in the office, lab, etc. parts of it. So technically, we weren't alone, but then again, we were alone. Make sense?

I looked around the facility, I'd never seen it so empty before. Something caught my eye during my sight seeing. A giant staircase led to the main office, which was located above the entire facility and connected to every part of headquarters. It was, shall we say, the heart of the agency. It's where the higher-ups such as Jinno and Narumi worked…

…and it was where they kept the most important documents.

That's what piqued my interest.

I stopped walking and turned my head to fully face the room I mentioned earlier, we called it Control, because it literally controlled everything. It was like the head of a person, if that makes sense.

"Oof!" I heard him grunt as he collided with my back. "Why the hell did you stop?" He looked up at where I was staring. "Uh, Control?" He muttered with a raised eyebrow.

I widened my eyes with a sudden brainstorm.

"Hey, when you retrieved the folder, did you see what was inside?" I poked his arm.

"No, I didn't. The orders were to just get it and bring it back to-hey where are you going!"

He shouted after me as I took a lead and ran straight for the stairs. This was it! No one was around because most of the facility was closed, and all the workers from the other parts were too busy dealing with their own issues. I'm an international spy, this should be a piece of cake. My only worry was that, since I was breaking into a confidential place from my own agency, that if I was caught no one would think of me as some sort of traitor or I'd get burned.

He ran after me after my lack of response. Darn biology, making men physically superior to women. Before I could set foot on the first step, he caught up with me to the foot of the staircase, grabbed my wrist, and pulled me back.

"Are you crazy? Do you _want_ to get a burn notice?" He shouted through gritted teeth.

Geez, why does he care so much? "Get your hands off me you molester!" I spat back and ripped my arm away from his grasp. "Just…just go along with it." I asked him. I tried to walk on the stairs again but he grabbed my _other_ wrist and pulled me back again.

"What are you doing Polka!" I could hear he was starting to get irritated. Not surprised, he seems like the kind of guy who doesn't enjoy being out of the loop.

I ripped my arm away from him again and turned to him. "I _have_ to get in there and see what's inside the folder we were sent to get."

I have to say the look he gave me was a mix between caught off guard and the kind of stare you give someone who's a complete idiotic moron.

So of course, _I _get _that_ look from him.

It was strange, his reaction. Because he lowered his eyelids and smirked. "Babe, it's late." He taunted me with fake sincerity. "Let's go back to my place and sleep together."

"Don't joke about this!"

There must have been something in the way my eyes threw themselves at him like daggers or a sudden tense feeling coming from my tone, but he went back to a blank stare complete with a raised eyebrow. Success! I've made the king of Alice Academy speechless. Not in the way one might expect, but a win's a win, let's not question it.

I sighed. "The agency's put about a million people on the academy case without so much as a reason for being here except that there's some huge conspiracy against the school that we are supposed to take as top priority and-"

"Get to the point…" He groaned. Oh, I see. You're too cool for my explanation. Masochistic jerk.

"Well, have you ever wondered _why_?"

Brainstorm! At its best, if you will. For years, I've been going on side missions while I'm on duty with the main Alice Academy case along with the occasional commissions concerning a lead on the case. The first one with Natsume and Mihara, for example, was a side mission, sort of helping the well being of the academy I suppose. The last one we went on, however, with just me and Natsume, was one of the rare missions. I'll be graduating from this school after the year ends, what am I supposed to do when that happens?

It's time to end this mission, _now_.

Okay, okay, I'm being a little dramatic. Once again, my competitive spirit kicked itself in gear. Natsume Hyuuga, I _hate_ him. I'm usually a calm and level-headed spy who just goes with the flow and does what they're told, and now I'm all riled up trying to wrap the mission up and solve it just so_ I_ can take full credit for it before this retard next to me does.

He raised an eyebrow. "Not really, I just got here a week ago."

I grabbed a huge amount of fabric from his shirt and shoved his face dangerously close to mine with a killer intent. "Well try _seven years_."

I set him free and quickly ran up the stairs towards Control before he had a chance to grasp my anger and stop me. He ended up following behind me as I picked my way through the lock and opened the door. There wasn't much security for the Control, because the agency itself was supposed to be impossible to break in so they loosened the protective measures on the rooms inside headquarters.

I walked in, and noticed immediately that a certain _someone_ didn't follow. I turned around.

"Well, are you just going to stand there or are you going to help me?"

He was leaning against the doorway, looking around the interior of Control, but he was making no effort to take even one step inside.

He smirked. "I'll help you get undressed."

"Ugh, you're unbelievable!"

I walked away and began rummaging throughout the office for the folder. He just stood there, watching me. Why wasn't he coming in? Surely he wasn't keeping guard, the bastard doesn't care enough to do that crap. The guy was acting strange, I was so sure that he wasn't scared to get caught. No, he's too 'badass' for that. Then what was keeping him?

"I found it!" I exclaimed, and began to quickly open it. I took the papers out and scanned the wording on it.

"Well, what's it say?"

So much for my week of freedom.

_*****The Next Day*****_

Reo Mouri.

Undercover international super spy for hire…working for _our_ agency.

That was his commissioned job. He's like one of us, except a few years older than us. He's an agent of our agency, just like us. What I mean be for-hire is that he likes to only take on cases he has an interest in. Our superiors have tried forcing him on some jobs, but once he refuses there's no helping it. We've known about him for ages, he's been working for this business long before I joined. I loved him as an idol of mine, I always vowed that someday I'd grow up to be as great of a spy as him, if not greater.

Double agent.

The papers we recovered from the main office didn't label him as such. They were photographs of him conversing with Mihara, and the written papers were documents explaining Reo's relationship with a business Mihara was involved in. They described the Z Organization, something Mihara seemed to be a part of. It wasn't information on this school or its administration, not directly at least. It stated that the Z Organization was started by an unknown person, created as a force against Alice Academy and the First President. It's what Mihara joined after cutting himself off all affiliations with the academy. So in a sense, it was information that affected our job with the current case.

Anyways…

Today was day two of the Alice Festival, and our haunted maze was open all day. Reo's concert wasn't until the end of the festival, after the sun went down because there would be lights and fireworks and all that jazz. I'll admit, I'm still excited to watch him because the last time he came the concert was _amazing_ and I had so much fun! Of course, that's when I only saw him as an agent of our agency.

Last night, after I put the folder and all of its components back where I found it, Natsume offered to walk me back to my dorms. After I _obviously_ refused, we split ways and headed to our respectful dorms. I told him on our way walking through the training facility about what I'd found, because he would _still_ not set foot in Control when I tried to usher him my way to take a look.

I'm not sure what his true reaction was, because the damn guy kept the same suave composure. Honestly! Have _some_ emotion! You're not the greatest thing since society decided it was acceptable for men to walk in public with their shirts off, as much as you'd like to think, _Hyuuga_. He told me I shouldn't be surprised because situations like Reo happened all the time. Heh, like I should believe anything he says! But before we went our separate ways, he said something weird.

He said he'd take care of it.

I know, I know, I had the same reaction. I mean, when people like us say they're going to 'take care' of something, it requires a little thing called murder. And as the memory never left my head, Natsume Hyuuga was certainly capable of 'taking care' of people.

The only people I could tell were Ruka, Hotaru, and Inchou because if I told Narumi or Jinno, they'd know I snuck into Control and took a peek at confidential documents. Hotaru had the same reaction as Natsume, completely unfazed. Ruka, on the other hand, had the more reasonable reaction. He began to panic and kept asking what we should do with the new information. Satisfied with Ruka, I began to panic alongside him. Of course, as spies, we're supposed to keep calm during tense moments, but in the middle of a festival in front of only each other and fellow peers, I believe panicking was the right way to handle things.

"Hey Mikan!"

I looked over to see Anna and Nonoko walking over to me as I was taping some decoration onto the walls of the inside of the maze. The Alice Festival wasn't open for day two yet, so we had time to set up before it did. We all wore the same costumes throughout the three days, so I was clad in my genie outfit.

"Hey guys!" I waved to them.

"What happened to your stomach?" Anna pointed out.

I heard a low, amused chuckle coming from the crimson-eyed transfer who was _supposed_ to be rigging his side of the hallway with scary traps. I turned my head and shot him a deathly glare, which he returned with a rather smug look on his face, pleased with the mark he'd left on me.

I quickly moved my arms to cover my bare torso in hopes the bruise would be less noticeable and turned back to them. "It's a long boring story. Not worth your time." I smiled to assure them.

They looked at each other and chuckled. "Maybe a genie costume wasn't the best idea." Nonoko commented lightly.

"Well I didn't get the bruise because I was wearing a revealing genie costume!" I defended.

"Ooh care to tell us how?" Anna gave me a rather sly and persuasive smile.

"Nice try." I gave her a friendly pat on the shoulder as I walked past her to go outside and prepare for the opening. "But that's all you're getting from me."

"You little minx." Nonoko teased and gave me a little wink.

I could have sworn I heard another ridiculously obnoxious laugh coming from the other side of the hall.

I'll kill him.

Oh my gosh I'll kill him.

* * *

**There's more development on the main case of Alice Academy in this chapter, along with a little happy moments from the festival (: **

**Sorry everyone seemed a little more OOC in this chapter compared to the others and that there was less conversational and more paragraphs explaining a bunch of stuff. And I apologize for it's lack of length!**

**Please don't hate me!**

**Well, I hope you enjoyed it!**

**Review my lovely readers :D**


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